A bishop speaks of a "future workshop". The Synodal Path of the Catholic Church in Germany is intended to enable a hierarchy-free space. Not everyone is happy about it.
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - After the first Synodal Assembly of the Catholic Church in Germany, Cardinal Reinhard Marx sees the reform process that has been started as "a good step forward".
"The expectations - and perhaps the fears - were huge," said the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference at the conclusion of the plenary session of the Synodal Way in Frankfurt. "Everyone's concern to advance the Church was palpable."
As a consequence of the abuse scandal, the Catholic Church in Germany has started a reform process, the Synodal Way. The highest organ is the synodal assembly of 230 bishops, believers and representatives of various professions in the church.
Bishop Franz-Josef Bode from Osnabrück called the discussion process opened on Thursday evening a "great future workshop for our church". Thomas Sternberg, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), spoke of a more timely image of the church. However, it would be more difficult to find majorities if the following meetings only started to work on the topics of power in the church, office of women or sexuality.
Marx said that the Synodal Way had set in motion a spiritual experiment with a very frank and open interpretation of the church order and discussions at eye level between bishops and lay people. In the coming week, he wants to inform Pope Francis about the progress so far.
However, this positive assessment was not shared by the conservative representatives among the bishops. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne told Domradio that all his fears had materialized - for example that a Protestant church parliament was being created, so to speak. "Protestant" is not a dirty word, Marx said of this statement, and Sternberg opposed "hierarchical ideas from the 19th century". He took the impression from the previous votes: "There is an overwhelming majority who really want change."
Previously, controversial discussions had shaped the last day of the Synodal Assembly. The 230 participants in the Synodal Path reform process spoke in Frankfurt about sexuality, celibacy and the position of women in the church. There were also different positions with representatives of the bishops.
Meanwhile, CDU chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer spoke again for an end to celibacy. "I wish for a lot more women in the church and as a first step the admission of women as a deacon," she told the editorial network Germany. An end to celibacy could make the Catholic Church more attractive, said the CDU leader.
Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht referred to applicable law with regard to the investigation of cases of abuse in the Catholic Church. "Church law does not violate our Code of Criminal Procedure and public prosecutors can of course also search in church facilities and also confiscate them," said the SPD politician on Sunday in the ZDF program "Berlin direct". "We do not know any secret archives and we will also enforce that."
Synodal way