The German bishops’ conference unveiled the initial results Wednesday of a study measuring global support for the goals of the country’s controversial “synodal way.” The study, co-funded by the bishops’ conference, is gauging the attitude of Catholics around the world toward the four main themes of the German initiative: power, the priesthood, women in the Read more
Posts Tagged ‘German bishops’
No threat of schism, says leading German bishop
Monday, May 10th, 2021
German Catholics are not seeking to “detach ourselves as the German national Church from Rome,” and there is no risk of schism, according to the chairman of the German Catholic bishops’ conference. Even as Catholics in Germany plan a national protest against the Vatican’s ban on blessing on same-sex couples, Bishop Georg Bätzing has insisted Read more
Head of German Catholic bishops will not deny Protestants Communion
Monday, March 1st, 2021
The president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference said he will continue to give Holy Communion to Protestants who ask for it. Bishop Georg Bätzing said it was necessary to respect the “personal decision of conscience” of those seeking to receive Communion. CNA Deutsch reported that Bätzing responded to a question about a controversial proposal Read more
Germany’s synodal way gets the nod from pope
Monday, June 29th, 2020
The German Catholic Church’s synodal way has been approved by Pope Francis, says German bishops’ conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing . After meeting with Francis on Saturday, Bätzing said he felt “strengthened by the intensive exchange with the Holy Father to continue on the path we have taken. “The pope appreciates this project, which he Read more
Communion policy must be resolved locally says Pope
Monday, May 7th, 2018
The Communion policy dividing the German bishops conference will not be resolved by the Vatican, Pope Francis says. Instead, the bishops must resolve the problem among themselves. The policy agreed to by over three quarters of the bishops will allow the non-Catholic spouses of Catholics to receive Communion in certain circumstances. The policy says one of Read more
German bishops abandon controversial Missal translation
Thursday, October 12th, 2017The German bishops appear to have abandoned a controversial new German translation of the Missal that was based on Liturgiam authenticam, the Congregation for Divine Worship’s 2001 document. Liturgiam authenticam insisted on greater fidelity to the Latin original in liturgy translations. The conference president Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called Liturgiam authenticam, a “dead end”. Read Read more
Number of German priest ordinations plummets to new low
Friday, August 26th, 2016
Ordinations in Germany have dropped by 50 per cent in the last decade. The decrease reflects a continuous downward trend, with only 122 diocesan priests ordained in 2005; five decades ago, in 1965, the number was 500. While there were almost 20,000 Catholic priests in Germany in 1990, today their number has already dropped to Read more
NZ lumped in with Germany in terms of synod offerings
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016
The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has lumped New Zealand in with the German bishops in terms of contributions at last year’s synod on the family. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki discussed the synod in a recent interview with EWTN Germany. The archbishop was asked about if there had been a “German-Polish” war at the synod. Read more
Bishop tells of papal veiled hint at more married priests
Tuesday, February 9th, 2016
A German bishop has recounted an incident in which Pope Francis showed no opposition to the concept of more married priests. The auxiliary Bishop of Hamburg, Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke, spoke of this on a German television talk show “Nachtcafe”. Bishop Jaschke mentioned the meeting between the German bishops and the Pope on November 20 last Read more
African church growth put down to lack of education
Tuesday, December 1st, 2015The editor of the German bishops’ website has said the Church is growing in Africa because of a lack of education and because Africans have little else. Björn Odendahl said this on Katholisch.de in an article entitled “The Romantic, Poor Church”. “Of course the Church is growing there. It grows because the people are socially dependent Read more