CV NEWS FEED // During a recent press conference, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference expressed his thoughts on the Vatican’s request for the German bishops to postpone creating a Synodal council of laity and clergy.
Many bishops and priests in Germany have been working on a project “to approve the statutes of a Synodal Committee (formed in November), aimed at preparing for the introduction of a Governing and Decision-making Council,” Vatican News reported.
The proposed Council would be composed of about 27 bishops and 50 lay people “to continue discussions and make possible decisions on issues of ecclesiastical authority, the role of women, sexual morality, and priestly life.”
Pope Francis sent a letter in November of 2023 to four involved German theologians warning that this council “cannot be harmonized with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church,” Vatican News added.
On February 19 during a press conference, the president German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, commented that the German bishops still “intend to move forward on the path of reform, despite the recent warning,” according to Vatican News:
This should be done through dialogue with Rome, the Bishop said, stressing that it is “a matter of course” to coordinate fundamental church reforms with the Vatican.
That, he explained, is why, “out of respect for the Roman authorities” the item regarding the creation of a synod committee for Germany was removed from the program of the bishops’ plenary. “We neither want to nor can we ignore” Rome’s positions, Bätzing stressed, while announcing a discussion on the issue would take place.
Bätzing argued that a council including both bishops and laity “would not weaken the authority of the bishops, but rather strengthen it,” Vatican News noted.
“We do not want to limit the authority of the bishop or bishops in any way,” Bätzing said. “We want to place them on new ground because this authority has been undermined by the abuse and scandal we have experienced… And that’s why we need new, binding and transparent advice that really flows into decisions. This is the path we are looking for.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and two Dicastery officials recently sent a second letter, approved by Pope Francis, to the German Bishops’ Conference reiterating the Vatican’s position.
According to Vatican News, the letter notes that “such a Council is not contemplated by current Canon Law; therefore, a decision adopted by the Bishops’ Conference on such a Council would also be null and void because it would have no authority to approve its Statute.”
The Vatican has requested that the voting be postponed until representatives of the Vatican meet with the German Bishops’ Conference. A date for this meeting has yet to be disclosed.
