As of: February 27, 2024, 4:03 p.m
By: Nils Hinsberger
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Split
Some AfD party members have attacked the Catholic Church.
They feel politically excluded - bishops respond by distancing themselves.
Deggendorf - For the political Ash Wednesday, the AfD dealt against the Catholic Church.
The leading candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, said in his speech on February 14th that he would not let “Pfaffen” dictate anything to him, the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
reported .
The reason could be the distancing of the German Bishops' Conference from the AfD.
Other AfD members also joined in the harsh criticism.
Shortly after the event, the bishops' conference reiterated its rejection of the AfD.
Krah also said in his speech that he did not want to let “a fat Bishop Marx” take away his faith.
Krah is not alone with this attitude.
AfD state leader Stephan Protschka also doesn't hold back in criticizing the church, but still sees himself as a Christian.
According to his own statement, Protschka is still a member of the Catholic Church, but does not pay church tax, reported the
Donaukurier
.
He will continue not to pay “as long as the Catholic Church is not able to expose its sex scandals and its child fuckers.”
The church has not yet responded directly to the serious allegations.
The AfD's top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, spoke out against the Catholic Church during the political Ash Wednesday.
© Carsten Koall/dpa
Bishops' Conference clearly differentiates itself from the AfD
Instead of reacting directly to the statements, the bishops found clear words for the AfD at the spring general assembly of the German Bishops' Conference on February 22nd.
A press release said that the Catholic Church distances itself from all forms of populism and extremism.
In the past, too, people distanced themselves from parties like the AfD.
“Anyone who expresses their resistance to the machinations of right-wing extremists out of a democratic, liberal and humane spirit deserves the support and respect of all of us,” said the Bishops’ Conference in a statement under the name “ethnic nationalism and Christianity are incompatible”.
The bishops' conference continues to say that we view with great concern the hatred that the AfD stirs up against fellow human beings based on religion, origin or skin color.
The success of the AfD can be attributed to the uncertainty among the population due to the ever-increasing number of crises, such as the war in Ukraine, the corona pandemic or the economic difficulties in Germany.
However, this should not become “a breeding ground for the erosion of civil, democratic consciousness and for the rise of extremist positions”.
The Catholic Church resolutely rejects the AfD's nationalistic and, to some extent, right-wing extremist ideas.
“Every human being has an inviolable and unavailable dignity,” the bishops wrote in their statement.
According to the AfD, bishops are “political puppets of the old parties”
During the political Ash Wednesday, Protschka also accused the church of politically excluding the AfD.
The church can be exploited and the bishops are “political puppets of the old parties”.
In relevant AfD forums, members of the party would also accuse the church of its commitment to refugees, reported the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
.
Words like “smuggling associations” or “repopulation industry” were also used.
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But some in the AfD also warn against criticizing the church too harshly.
Many voters come from Christian backgrounds and are put off by this behavior.
In Bavaria in particular, many people have a close relationship with their religion, which is why the statements made on political Ash Wednesday are rather counterproductive.
Bishop sees parallels between the AfD and the Catholic Church
However, the Catholic Church is not entirely free of sympathy for the AfD.
The Augsburg Bishop Bertram Meier, for example, referred to overlaps between the church and the AfD, reported the
dpa
.
“Like the church, the AfD advocates, for example, the protection of unborn life or the marriage of a man and a woman - and yet as a church we cannot narrow our view of such overlaps,” said Meier in September 2023. The statements were met by some church supporters with sharp criticism.
After his speech, the canon lawyer Thomas Schüller assumed that Meier would establish himself as a “stirrup holder for broader social acceptance of right-wing radicals.”
Pope Francis recently criticized the negative attitude of some church members towards the blessing of homosexuals.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper
Credere
, he dismissed criticism of his decision to allow the church to bless same-sex couples as “hypocrisy.”
(nhi)