Sex change in the Church: Germany pushes the debate over "women priests" to the maximum, the biggest change in two thousand years

Julio Algañaraz

09/24/2020 - 11:35

• Clarín.com

• World

The

is the modernization promoted by the German Church with a National Synod that defends the most profound historical change in two thousand years.

The pandemic that punishes the world

.

Also the Synodal Path of the German Church, which continues with its two-year revolution but had to disperse, due to security measures, the assembly scheduled in Frankfurt this month, dividing it into five cities.

The other four are Berlin, Munich, Dortmund and Ludwigshafen.

The effect was to

and the debates around the basic themes proposed by the Synodal Path, which together constitute the will to make the

in the universal Church.

But the Church

.

This is the most difficult kernel of the substantive "aggiornamiento" that the German debate seeks.

Because all the delays can be summed up in the most important: putting the other half of heaven on an equal footing,

, who make up more than half of the Catholic institution.

There is the key that opens the other keys.

And it is

because as in no other issue, in the decision to keep women totally marginalized from ecclesiastical power, lies the

that continues to dominate the structure of the Universal Church.

The Church keeps women totally marginalized from ecclesiastical power.

Photo: ANSA

In the meetings, the subject matter stood out as always.

, vice president of the German Catholics, the powerful ZDK, said that the central theme of the five assemblies has been the discussion of the

in ecclesiastical institutions.

"It is a vital issue for the church. If we do not find a solution, more people will abandon it."

In 2018-2019, half a million Catholics were removed from the membership casts required by German law.

The Bishop of Erfurt,

, tried to stop the wave by recalling that "as a bishop I will always be attentive to the unity of the church."

"We have to admit that there are so many countries where it is unimaginable that it is discussed as we are doing in Germany."

Another bishop,

of Ildesheim, said that instead the times

.

“I believe that what we have to say about the Gospel must be

with everyday life.

And this competence is not only held by consecrated men ”.

In front of the headquarters of the five assemblies, many women gathered with posters that said:

.

Even some, more ambitious, proposed:

Nuns visit St. Peter's Basilica.

Photo: AFP

The dissemination of the debates promises much more participation in the next assembly, in Frankfurt, from February 4 to 6, 2021. The pandemic is expected to have relaxed by then in Germany and there will be more freedom of movement.

Closed topic

Pope Francis has already

of the female priesthood

.

After the Synod on the Amazon, where great novelties were expected, such as the

and openings restricted to the priesthood of married men, as the same synod assembly requested the Pope.

The negative answer disappointed many in the German Church where

the bishops in favor of the priestly ordination of women

seem to be the

.

Apparently, the parate of Francisco, who adhered to the final point that on the subject of female priests put "in an infallible way" by Pope John Paul II in 1994, has decided a consistent block on the German Synodal Road to

.

This was the motto that became so popular in the Paris of the youth revolution of '68.

Franz Jung, bishop of Wurzburg, who advocates that priests

, noted that "in the long run I believe that the question of the ordination of women will continue to arise continuously in the life of the Church."

"Young people go beyond our theological considerations and make a question of justice and participation."

Nuns in a cathedral in Burkina Faso.

Photo: Reuters

The powerful argument that was recalled to the Germans from Rome highlights that the Church recognizes

of ordaining women because "it belongs to the substance of the sacrament of the order."

"The Church does not have the capacity to change this substance, because from the sacraments of Christ, it was generated as Church", warned the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

A high female authority, prior of Tutzing Abbey, in Bavaria, replied that "I am surprised that the presence of Christ has been

."

The sexual abuse of 2010

The decision to promote the Synodal Path of "conversion and renewal" was a direct consequence of the serious scandals for

that the German church experienced from 2010. Cardinal Reihnard Marx, who until last January was president of the national Episcopal Conference , stressed that this starting point requires a spiritual process of conversion.

"At stake is the future of the faith and the Church in Germany and the need to regain credibility."

Nuns and faithful in San Pedro.

Photo: AP

Cardinal Marx, a friend of the Argentine Pope, said that Francis "encourages us to discuss" and that "there will be no end to this Synodal path because this is a new way of being Church."

To the objections that the questions of the priestly ordination of women and the celibacy of priests are closed, Cardinal Marx replied:

.

The alternative is great frustration: the Cardinal of Cologne, Rainer Maria Woelki, warned that the danger is that the path taken by the German bishops will lead to the schism of "a German national church".

In Germany, the impulse of the Synodal Way is creating committees scattered throughout the territory, even made up of

in support of the reforms.

The Archbishop of Hamburg said that "the historical perspective is not everything."

"We must allow the discussion of the issue of the ordination of women."

For the Archbishop of Hamburg, "we must allow the discussion of the issue of the ordination of women."

Photo: EFE

Most theologians wonder whether being a man is the only decisive factor for the incarnation of Christ and the sacrament of ordination.

The Way aims to make the issues under debate in the German Synod remain at the center of the debates also

.

The new president of the Episcopal Conference, Georg Baetzing, bishop of Limburg, said: "I do not believe that the existence of married priests will harm the Church."

Those promoting the two-year National Synod are confident that when the assemblies conclude and final conclusions are drawn up, many issues will

.

But it will launch a call for a future World Synod of Bishops, "that a Pope convened" to deal

and issues such as the ordination of women.

According to the theologian Agnes Wruckett, a voice widely heard even by Pope Francis himself, when that decisive moment in the life of the Church is reached "the glass ceiling" imposed by the immobile Church may be broken.

Rome, correspondent

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