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Members of the German Bishops' Conference (archive photo): "Little hope"
Photo: Arne Dedert / dpa
They would have to decide whether they wanted a living or a dead church, the theologian Maria Mesrian said on Deutschlandfunk on Saturday: After the Vatican's criticism of the Synodal Path reform initiative, the Catholic women's initiative Maria 2.0 asked the German bishops to to take a clear position.
»To go into confrontation with Rome now would be the only way to achieve anything at all.«
But you have "little hope" that this will happen, said Mesrian.
So far, even the reforming bishops have only "dumped in silence" about the Vatican's statement: "Nobody takes a strong position against Rome." But if the church doesn't reform, it will "sink into insignificance."
criticism of Pope Francis
The synodal path of the German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), which began in 2019, is a consequence of the abuse scandal.
He is striving for reforms in four areas: dealing with power, Catholic sexual morality, the position of women and the mandatory celibacy of priests (celibacy).
In the discussion forum, bishops and lay people want to make reform proposals together.
The voting weight of the bishops is greater than that of the laity - which is why Maria 2.0 decided from the outset not to participate in the synodal path, as Mesrian said.
Her own initiative is primarily committed to equal rights for women in the Catholic Church and thus also to access all church offices.
In a succinct statement on Friday, the Vatican warned that the synodal path had no right to oblige bishops and believers "to accept new forms of leadership and new orientations of doctrine and morals".
The new "official structures and teachings" that are created in this way would "represent a violation of the church community and a threat to the unity of the church".
Pope Francis had previously been critical of the reform movement and warned of secession tendencies.
He recently said that there is already a Protestant church in Germany - "we don't need two of them".
pbe/AFP
