A German archdiocese is selecting lay people to help to choose its next archbishop. The incumbent, Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker, turns 75 next June and has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis. The Archdiocese of Paderborn says it is drawing lots to choose a 14-member lay group made up of men and women. Paderborn’s cathedral chapter Read more
Participants in Germany’s “synodal way” will vote next month on a controversial proposal. If passed, the proposal would create a powerful permanent “synodal council” to oversee the local Church. Fourteen papers will be put to a vote at the synodal way’s fourth plenary assembly next week. One, “Sustainable strengthening of Synodality: A Synodal Council for Read more
The latest Vatican intervention against the German “Synodal Way” was published by the Secretariat of State, but he himself has said “everything he had to say” about the process in his own letter to German Catholics, Pope Francis told journalists on the papal plane on July 30. During an in-flight press conference on his return Read more
The Vatican has warned the German Catholic Church of the potential for a schism if it pursues new moral or doctrinal norms during its Synodal Way process. Members of the Synodal Way, a group made up of equal numbers of German bishops and lay Catholics, meet regularly. In February, they called on the Catholic Church Read more
German bishops have hit back against a Vatican warning over the direction of the Synodal Way, saying they were “astonished” by the rebuke. The Vatican said Germany’s synodal path is a threat to church unity at a universal level. The Holy See stressed that the undertaking lacks the authority to compel bishops to make changes Read more
A plan to extend Germany’s “synodal way” indefinitely through a permanent “synodal council” isn’t pleasing all Church leaders. The proposed council would be a powerful “advisory and decision-making body” consisting of both bishops and lay people. If created, it would mark a radical change in the structure of the Catholic Church in Germany. Advocates say Read more
Germany’s Synodal Way reform proposals have had some sharp criticism from German theologian cardinal Walter Kasper. He agrees reforms are necessary but says the Church should not become “a mass that can be kneaded and shaped to suit the situation”. The proposal to create a permanent Synodal Council to govern the Catholic Church in Germany Read more
A Franciscan province in Germany has elected an openly gay member as its new superior general. Br Markus Fuhrmann (centre) publicly came out as homosexual a few weeks ago. “If I am gay myself, then I want to show that I can also be part of the Church in this ministry,” he said in explanation Read more
Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he told the leader of Germany’s Catholic bishops that the country already had “a very good evangelical church” and “we don’t need two.” The pope recalled his remark to Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, during a conversation with the editors of Read more
The cardinal tasked by Pope Francis with overseeing the Church’s global synod says he is not worried about the German reform process stressing that the synod cannot ignore difficult questions. Cardinal Mario Grech said that the criticisms of Germany are part and parcel of what it means to be a synodal Church which offers a Read more