Responses to the Vatican’s questions about the family shows Church teaching on sexual morality must change, a German bishop says. Bishop Stephen Ackermann of Trier said the responses show Church teachings in this area are “repressive” and “remote from life” for most Catholics. In a German publication, Bishop Ackermann said it is also no longer Read more
A German bishop who has been criticised for his allegedly luxurious lifestyle has suspended from his episcopal ministry and instructed to live outside his diocese for an unspecified time. Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg had travelled to Rome to see Pope Francis after the head of the German bishops’ conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, had Read more
The president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference has called for a new office of women deacons in the Catholic Church. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg made it clear he was calling for a new office specifically for women, rather than admission of women to the sacramental diaconate. He called for the move at the Read more