Michael Helding (1506–30 September 1561) was a Roman Catholic bishop, scholar, writer and humanist.

On 18 October 1537 he was selected to become auxiliary bishop of Mainz and was ordained to that role on 4 August the following year.

In December 1550 he became the successor to the Protestant George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau as the last Catholic Bishop of Merseburg.

He was present at the Council of Augsburg in 1555 and in the autumn of 1557 at the Colloquy of Worms, where his questions caused internal conflict between Lutheran theologians.

He remained true to Catholicism, but was still friendly to reform and tolerant towards the Protestant denominations and other faiths.