In a candid interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) am Sonntag, Bishop Felix Gmür (pictured) also acknowledged past mistakes in addressing abuse cases within the Catholic Church and called for the admission of women to the priesthood.

"It's time to abolish mandatory priestly celibacy," Bishop Gmür of Basel told NZZ on September 24.

The bishop elaborated: "Celibacy means that I am available to God. But I believe that this sign is no longer understood by society today. Many think: What is wrong with this person? Does he have a problem? When a sign is no longer understood, it must be questioned.

"I have no problem at all imagining married priests," the 55-year-old bishop added.

Women priests

Moreover, Gmür advocates for the inclusion of women in the priesthood, challenging the long-standing exclusion.

"The subordination of women in the Catholic Church is incomprehensible to me. Changes are needed there," he declared.

His stance aligns with a broader societal movement towards gender equality.

"I am in favour of the ordination of women; it will also be a topic at the synod that will soon take place in Rome," Gmür stated.

Errors handling abuse cases admitted

Gmür's admission of errors in handling abuse cases is a striking move, indicating a willingness to confront the Catholic Church's troubled past. He emphasised the need to question prevailing conditions within the Church, asserting that the time is ripe for sweeping reforms.

Gmür is in favour of an external monitoring of the church investigation into the cases of abuse as demanded by the Roman Catholic Central Conference.

In response to the abuse scandal, the Swiss Bishops' Conference plans to establish an ecclesiastical criminal and disciplinary tribunal for the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland.

However, this still has to be discussed with the Pope since such a tribunal is not provided for in canon law, said Gmür.

But, the proceedings under church law are subordinate to state law, "so they do not replace secular criminal proceedings."

Sources

Swiss Info

Catholic News Agency

CathNews New Zealand

Gmür says the Church's history shows that over time there have been different election procedures for bishops.

"It was only with the publication of the ecclesiastical code of law (CIC) in 1917 that the right to elect bishops was expressly granted to the Pope."

It is simply not true that while the 1917 Code tried to create the impression that the papal right of appointment was ancient and other models were based purely on an act of grace by the pope.

"So the development is only a hundred years old," Gmür writes in an article for Forum.

Since the earliest days of the Church, the broadest possible participation of lay people and other Church bodies were considered necessary in episcopal appointments.

"He who is to preside over all must be elected by all," writes Gmür, quoting fifth-century pope Leo the Great.

Gmür went through an uncommon election process to become Bishop of Basel.

Appointed bishop on the basis of a vote of the cathedral chapter that was subsequently confirmed by the Pope, a privilege that dates back to the Vienna Concordat of 1448, a similar procedure also applies in the St Gallen diocese.

However, Gmür wants a new process that goes past the models used in these dioceses.

He says that while these processes are wider than a papal appointment, the processes also suffer from shortcomings including a veto on priests not incardinated into those dioceses and the informal understanding - not institutionalised - that the cathedral chapters will take into account the perspectives of diocesan priests and laity in their voting.

"Mechanisms need to be found, according to the respective cultural sensitivities, to ensure that the whole diocesan people of God is adequately represented" in the appointment of its shepherds, Gmür underlined.

The Swiss bishop also warned of other possible pitfalls.

Gmür is of the view the procedure for selecting candidates and electing the bishop must not "under any circumstances" be organised as a democratic election campaign.

It must be designed as "a process of spiritual discernment leading to a decision that is as unanimous as possible" he insists.

"Here the Church can learn from those religious orders which have been practising this for a long time."

"Models for the election of bishops, supported locally by the faithful and at the same time supported by the universal Church, should not be the exception, but the rule." he reiterated.

Sources

• Novena News
• Forum