Deep divisions in Germany and Switzerland over synodal pathway
Deep divisions over the synodal pathway are emerging in Germany and Switzerland.
Deep divisions over the synodal pathway are emerging in Germany and Switzerland.
On 21 July, shortly before the Pope left for Canada, the Vatican published a brief statement warning the German “Synodal Path” initiative that it did not have the power to change church teaching or to introduce new church structures, and that it was a threat to church unity.
The terse, unsigned Vatican statement made headline news in both the church and secular media in Germany within hours of its publication. The reactions in Germany and Switzerland indicate a deep division on synodal path issues.
Germany’s conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing and the president of the Central Committee of (lay) Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, strongly rejected the idea that the German “Synodal Path” was planning reforms that would lead to a schism and pointed out that topics such as the Church’s sexual morality, priestly celibacy and the role of women in the Church were being discussed in many other countries besides Germany. Several well-known German and Swiss theologians supported them.
The Vatican statement was above all an “outrageous vote of no confidence”, the secretary general of the Roman Catholic Conference of Switzerland, Daniel Kosch, who is a German synodal path observer, pointed out in a guest article for the Swiss Catholic news agency, kath.ch. “No dicastery and no representative of the Holy See has taken any personal responsibility [for this statement]. This anonymity makes dialogue impossible and is therefore incompatible with the church’s synodality”, he observed.
Canon lawyer Bernhard Anuth of Tübingen was more measured. The Vatican statement was “merely clarifying” what was already laid down in the German Synodal Path’s statutes, namely that on issues which concerned the World Church every decision reached could only be a request to the Pope, Anuth told KNA. However, he admitted, “numerous comments by prominent German ‘Synodal Path’ members, could be, had been and were understood as though church law was actually being changed”.
Only two days before the Vatican statement was published, the German “Synodal Path’s” secretary general, Marc Frings, called for a “readjustment” of the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality in a guest contribution for the US blog “Outreach”. The [German] “Synodal Path” was a “deliberate statement against the current Catholic Catechism which has been critical and disparaging of homosexuality since the mid-70s and still reproaches homosexual activity as sin”, Frings wrote.
Among the few German bishops who commented was Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg, who is responsible for world affairs in the German bishops’ conference. He welcomed the Vatican statement. “It shows that Rome is interested in what happens in Germany. [At the moment], the risk to church unity is virulent”, he underlined. Rome was not putting the brakes on but was trying to channel the German “Synodal Path” and allow itself to be “enriched” by the World Church.
Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg said he was thankful for the “clarifying” statement. “It is now at last time to join the Pope on the synodal path and that means listening, discussing and praying on the basis of Catholic doctrine and not with the aim of changing it,” he declared.
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