The Church needs spiritual renewal, not just structural, he wrote as the Germany's Catholics prepare to embark on a synodal process.

"We are all aware that we are living not only in an age of change but also of epochal change that raises new and old questions which call for a justified and necessary debate," he wrote in a letter published by the Vatican last Saturday.

"You would have a good ecclesial body that is well organized and even 'modernised' but without soul and evangelical newness; we would live a 'gaseous' Christianity without evangelical bite."

Trying to eliminate tension just by "being in order and in harmony" would "numb and domesticate the heart of our people and diminish and even silence the vital and evangelical strength the Spirit wants to give us," he wrote.

In a study released in September last year, the German bishops identified three themes for the syndoal process to examine: sexual abuse by the clergy and religious; issues such as the lack of vocations and the non-acceptance of Catholic teaching on sexuality; and the lifestyle of priests.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops' conference, has pledged to create "formats for open debates" and to "bind [the German church] to proceedings that facilitate a responsible participation of women and men from our dioceses".

Noting the synodal path is a process that must be guided by the Holy Spirit with patience, the Pope warned that it does not involve a "search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called."

He also noted that true transformation cannot be made as a "reaction to external data or demands".

The Church "seeks to live and make the Gospel transparent and breaks with the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the church in which everything proceeds normally but in reality, faith wears out and degenerates into pettiness," Francis wrote.

"True transformation responds to and calls for demands that are born of our being believers and of the church's own evangelising dynamic."

In his view, it calls for "pastoral conversion," with a central aim of evangelisation. In addition, ensuring the Spirit is central to the process will shape the way debates are conducted.

"The synodal vision does not eliminate contradictions or confusion," he said.

"Evangelisation lived in this way is not a tactic of repositioning the Church in today's world" or "an attempt to recover habits and practices that make sense in other cultural contexts.

"It is true, there are hard times, times of the cross, but nothing can destroy the supernatural joy, which adapts, transforms and always remains," he said.

The Church's primary concern must be to share this joy with others, he said, especially those "who are lying on the doorstep of our churches, in the streets, in prisons and hospitals, squares and cities".

With the rise of xenophobia, indifference and individualism, the pope added, the Church must connect with those who suffer and "awaken in our communities, especially in young people, the passion for his kingdom."

Source

• La Croix
• Crux Now
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LifeSite

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 14,000.

The drastic decline is set to continue, judging by the figures: last year also marked the first time in history that the number of new seminarians dropped to double digits.

Only 96 new students were registered in 2015. At the same time, 309 priests passed away, and 19 left the priesthood.

The crisis of vocations to the priesthood is not just one of sheer numbers.

A recent academic study showed that amongst the current clergy, more than half - 54 percent - go to confession only "once a year or less."

Further official numbers, published in July, confirm that the precipitous decline of the faith is not just restricted to the number of vocations: average church attendance in Germany is down from 18.6 percent in 1995 to 10.4 percent in 2015.

The number of people departing the Church has increased within the same time frame, having peaked at over 200,000 annually in recent years.

The German bishops have mostly responded to the ordinations' crisis in a twofold way.

They've first abandoned the traditional parish structure in favor of larger "pastoral areas," which take different names in different dioceses.

In these, lay people, both paid and unpaid, play an increasingly important role in administering the Church.

Secondly, several dioceses in Germany have large numbers of foreign priests working for them, mostly from Poland and India.

Not all of these priests are fluent in German and/or familiar with cultural norms and traditions - which in turn occasionally leads to conflict.

Some disagree with the bishops' response, saying the drop indicates the need for reform, and others suggesting it's been artificially induced in order to change the Church.

Source:

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: www.liturgy.co.nz

The German bishops' conference last week issued a decree, saying it was "worried" about the Catholic Church's dwindling numbers and wanted to stem the drop.

Those who will refuse to pay the tax will not ba able to go to confession, join the celebration of the Eucharist, receive the sacrament of confirmation or the anointing of the sick - unless the patient's life is in danger.

The new decree takes effect on Monday.

Germany has had a system in place since the 19th century asking residents to either officially declare their religion and pay a church tax, or to be classed as "non-religious."

A change in status from being a member of a religion requires a formal procedure to "leave the Church," as an increasing number of Germans have done, mostly from the Catholic Church but also from the Protestant faith, the Agence France Presse reported.

The tax amounts to between eight and 10 percent of income tax, depending on where the person lives.

Although the new decree permits a religious marriage for anyone who has left the Church, it stipulates two conditions - an approval from the local religious authorities and a promise to keep the faith and uphold the religious education of any children in the Catholic faith.

However, the bishops' decree said "if the person who has left the Church has not displayed any regret before their death, a religious burial may be refused."

A progressive Catholic movement reacted angrily to the move.

"It's a bad decree coming at a bad time," the "We Are Church" ("Wir Sind Kirche") group said in a statement. "Instead of tackling the reasons for Church-leaving in large numbers, this bishops' decree is a threat to the people of the Church and is not going to motivate people to remain loyal or to join the community of those who pay their church tax," it said.

Sources

• AFP/Inquirer
• BBC News
• RTE News
• Image: dw.de