Germany’s Catholic bishops may be preparing to defy the Vatican, despite Pope Francis’s efforts to rein in the heterodox prelates. The German Bishops’ Conference will meet tomorrow for its annual Spring plenary assembly, where the bishops may move forward with establishing a Synodal Council. Last year, as the German Synodal Way concluded, the idea of a Synodal Council was proposed, a permanent body of mostly laity who would democratically vote on matters ecclesial and administrative, replacing the authority of the bishop.
If Germany’s bishops approve those statutes, too, the Church in Germany will officially be in schism.
The Vatican vehemently opposed and outright banned the creation of any such council, stating that the German bishops do not have the authority to contradict the ecclesial hierarchy of the universal Catholic Church. However, Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, rejected the ban and announced that he would try to negotiate with the Vatican instead.
Catholic laity in Germany are calling on their bishops to be obedient to Rome. The group Neuer Anfang (New Beginning) published an open letter to “once again express our concern for the course of the Church” in Germany. They wrote:
[W]e would like to invite you — in a good biblical way — to take stock and see whether there is still something right about the overall “Synodal Way” project. The Pope and his Roman authorities have rejected almost all of their demands and decisions as incompatible with the teachings of the Church.
Neuer Anfang noted that the Synodal Council and the Synodal Way have been “built on sand.” The Synodal Way was originally intended to be a means to address the “power structures” in the German Church which resulted in the clerical sexual abuse crisis. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Virginia’s Bishops Speak Out Against Euthanasia)
However, the program began operating under the misconception that the abuse was facilitated by the specifically and uniquely Catholic organization of the Church. Of course, as countless abuse crises and studies have demonstrated, abuse is not rooted in the Catholic Church: any organization which has hierarchical “power structures” is susceptible to abuse. Since the Synodal Way began operating on flawed and faulty principles, the creation of a Synodal Council, Neuer Anfang argued, is unnecessary and “cannot be reconciled with the sacramental structure of the Church.”
“Why, dear bishops,” the laity asked, “do you openly disobey the Pope? … Who gives you, dear bishops, the right to renounce your apostolic authority based on the Gospel?” The letter notes that the bishops are wasting their time and energy on committees and meetings, neglecting their duty to shepherd their flocks. “Do you still notice that you, as courageous shepherds and bold leaders, are urgently needed somewhere else?” the laity asked in their letter. “There is war outside. The country is facing a demographic, economic, and social catastrophe. Germany is in danger of slipping into ungovernability. Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving their spiritual home disappointed — a Catholic Church that has lost its spiritual substance, its intellectual relevance and its prophetic luminosity.”
“Lent is a time of examination of conscience, purification and new beginnings,” the letter concludes. “Nobody has to continue the old patterns. You as bishops don’t have to do that either. With the ‘bold freedom of speech’ that Cardinal Bergoglio called for the Church in 2013, we say to you: Bishops, be honest!” (READ MORE: Understanding Pope Francis’s Comments on Hell)
Currently, a “Synodal Committee” is preparing the way for the banned Synodal Council. The powerful Central Committee of German Catholics has already approved the statutes of the Synodal Council. If Germany’s bishops approve those statutes, too, the Church in Germany will officially be in schism and in direct defiance of the Roman Pontiff.