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Georg Bätzing, Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference: "Movement is needed here"
Photo: Nicolas Armer / dpa
Anyone who works in the Catholic Church and openly admits to being homosexual can lose his or her job.
Now the German bishops want to abolish this unequal treatment by changing the church labor law.
"Movement is needed here, pressure has been created here," said the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Georg Bätzing, at the opening of the DBK spring plenary assembly in the pilgrimage site of Vierzehnheiligen in Bavaria.
»We are moving towards a change in the basic order.«
The ten articles of the constitution form the cornerstones of the Church's labor constitution.
They apply to around 750,000 employees in the Catholic Church and its Caritas.
According to Bätzing, an episcopal group is to discuss a new draft of the constitution in May.
In June, the DBK could then discuss this draft in the Permanent Council.
In January, 125 queer employees protested against the discrimination of non-heterosexual orientations under the motto #OutInChurch.
As a result, some dioceses had already declared that a confession of homosexuality for employees would have no consequences under labor law.
Bätzing said he would accept a collection of signatures for the campaign at the general assembly.
The rising number of exits is an important sign to the Catholic Church that something has to change.
"I think the Church's resistance to change is no longer strong."
Bätzing is pushing for a decision from the Vatican in Causa Woelki
The case of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki was also a topic at the bishops' conference.
“Pope Francis and especially the Prefect of the Bishops’ Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Ouellet, are now responsible for this situation in the archdiocese.
And I don't think you'll be able to stand by for too long," said Bätzing.
Woelki, who has been under pressure since withholding an abuse report in 2020, returned to office as Archbishop of Cologne on Ash Wednesday after a five-month hiatus and offered the pope his resignation.
Francis said he would make a decision "in due course."
Woelki himself took part in the spring plenary assembly.
It was his first major public appearance after his return.
From the point of view of the reform movement "We are Church", Woelki is "a great burden" for the bishops' conference and the synodal path reform process, of which the conservative cardinal is considered to be a harsh critic.
"After his spiritual break, is he now ready to take note of the resolutions that have been passed on the synodal path and to give up his total rejection of this reform process?" the reformers asked in a statement - and expressed great doubt.
fek/dpa
