Once again the rope is so tight that it threatens to break in
a schism
that would distance the German Church from Rome and the rest of the Catholic world, which obeys the authority of the Pope.
In response to proposals for open reforms such as the role of women, the female priesthood, changes in sexual morality and the path of priests, the German Church promotes
an even more scandalous issue
of rupture: the creation of a Council made up of bishops and lay people to discuss and decide the most divisive issues.
The innovation is enormous, in the Church the laity do not participate in the exercise of ecclesiastical power and cannot be compared to bishops.
The German Episcopal Conference, meeting this week in the city of Augusta, had to approve the statutes of the new body.
Pope Francis had already expressed in a letter addressed to four German theologians, his concern about the constitution of the Synodal Committee destined to prepare the introduction of a Directive and decision-making Council.
In the meetings of the synodal path that has met in assemblies since 2019, 27 bishops have been named as members of the Synodal Committee, which must also meet with equally elected lay people.
German bishops, this Monday, at a general assembly in the city of Augusta.
Photo: EFE
Francis' warnings
The discussed synodal path
has the entire Church in suspense
.
Last November, when it was approved to create the body of bishops and lay people grouped in the powerful Central Committee of German Catholics, in his letter to the four theologians, the Pope wrote that the new body “cannot be harmonized with the sacramental structure of the Church".
Francis also reminded them that the Holy See had prevented the constitution of the Committee "with a letter dated January 1, 2023, which I specifically approved."
Another letter flew from Rome, signed on the 16th of this month and addressed to the bishops who are meeting in Augusta.
It is signed by the Secretary of State (“prime minister” of the Pope), Cardinal Pietro Parolín, the Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Argentine Cardinal Víctor Fernández, and Cardinal Robert Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
In addition to reiterating the position expressed by the Pope, the letter from the Vatican's highest summits
asks the bishops meeting in Augusta to annul the vote
on the Statute scheduled for next week.
The Vatican asks the German bishops to postpone any decision until the scheduled meetings between representatives of the Vatican and the German Episcopal Conference take place.
A date for these meetings has not yet been set.
But the letter from the Pope's three “ministers” highlights that the content of the letter sent to the German Episcopal Conference was approved by the pontiff.
Another paragraph states: “If the statute of the synodal commission is adopted before the meeting (in the Vatican) the question arises of the objective of this meeting and of the ongoing dialogue process in general.”
The German Catholic agency KNA points out that the letter from Cardinal Parolin and that of the two heads of the Dicastery, Cardinals Fernández and Prevost, highlight that a Council like the one they want to approve “is not contemplated by current Canon Law.”
Therefore, "a decision of the Episcopal Conference would be null because it would have no authority to approve its statutes."
“The approval of the statute of the Synodal Committee
would be in contrast with the command of the Holy Father
and would put it in front of accomplished facts,” highlights the document sent from the Vatican to the Episcopal Conference.
Critical points
The German bishops, at their General Assembly, this week.
His reformist ideas challenge the Pope.
Photo: EFE
The critical point is that in the Synodal Committee that the Germans want to create, bishops and lay people give their opinion and vote.
But
in the Church the laity are excluded from the scheme of power,
reserved for male priests and their hierarchies.
With the situation brought to the brink of a rupture, the German bishops decided in Augusta to cancel this time the vote of the Synodal Committee of the plenary, because otherwise it would have put a disastrous schismatic decision on the agenda.
It is worth highlighting the importance that the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Schoenborn, had in seeking appeasement.
The prestigious progressive cardinal, widely listened to by the German bishops, stressed that the German Church, like the other episcopal conferences of the Catholic world, “is not authorized to establish a decision-making body in which the laity, in addition to the bishops, have a voice and vote on fundamental ecclesiastical questions".
Cardinal Schoenborn gave a strong hand to Rome and the Pope.
In an interview he repeated that the German bishops should not make decisions “that could lead to a schism.”
He said: “They should seriously ask themselves whether they want to leave communion with and under the Pope, instead of accepting it.”
“To refuse to surrender would be stubborn, a clear sign of a schism that no one can wish for.
“To ignore Rome’s warnings would be negligent,” he added.
Schoenborn declared that he is "impressed by the patience with which the Pope is seeking to continue the dialogue with the German bishops and to maintain unity and communion."
“Not a few accuse the Pope and his collaborators of being too patient, saying that the time has come to react with drastic measures,” he noted.
The old Austrian cardinal praised the Pope and highlighted how “after the last letter from Rome the dialogue remains open.
I have the impression that the Pope and the Roman dicasteries have done everything to go to meet the German bishops.
We should expect that the German bishops would also have to ensure that the Central Committee of German Catholics does not overstep its bounds.”
Schism appears around the corner.
The agitated climate promoted by the reforms of the German Church will have obvious repercussions in the second part of the Synod of Synods that the Pope has just called for the entire month of next October.
The event will bring together delegations of bishops from around the world and the Pope ordered that working groups begin to work on the main topics already considered in the first part, held last October.
In the second part, all the issues that have been left unresolved and reflect the confrontation between conservatives and reformists must be addressed “di petto”.
Some topics promise controversy
, from the introduction of greater democracy in the Church to the female priesthood, to the modifications in the Catechism, especially in the part on sexuality.
The president of the German Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Georg Batzing, hinted that they will move forward in the reform process despite the Pope's warnings.
"We do not want to limit the authority of the bishop or bishops," he said.
Monsignor Batzing insisted on the need to create a Synodal Committee of bishops and laity for Germany, which the Pope and the Roman Curia will never accept.
The risk of a breakup remains.
C.B.