An outcry from abuse survivor advocates has seen Munich and Freising’s archbishop refuse the German equivalent of knighthood. Cardinal Reinhard Marx says he wrote to German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday, declining to accept Germany’s only federal decoration. He was scheduled to receive the Federal Cross of Merit at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace today, April 30. Read more
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
Groups representing over 1.5 million German Catholics have again said there is an urgent need for change in the Church. The Church must change if it is to reverse its loss of credibility, they say. “Constructive dialogue and debate on necessary reforms are absolutely essential” at this point in the life of the Church. In Read more
Monika Schmelter is one of the women who crisscrosses the country to press for equal rights in the Catholic Church. The reason, she points out is that people are leaving the church in droves — including her own children. Many women share her experience of seeing their children turn their backs on the church. In Read more
The formation of priests is under the spotlight in Germany because of an ongoing reduction in candidates for the priesthood. Where there were 594 candidates in 2011, this has whittled to just 211 at present, says Heinrich Timmerevers, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen. The decline in candidate numbers has had Germany’s Catholic bishops considering ways of streamlining Read more
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
Dozens of people who attended at a Baptist church service in Frankfurt on 10 May are being sought by German authorities as they may have been exposed to the coronavirus (COVID-19). So far more than 107 people tested positive for the virus, six of whom have been taken to hospital. Those at the service followed Read more
Many of Germany’s churches have reopened as the country begins to ease the past six weeks’ coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions. Everyone attending services must wear masks and stay apart from each other. No singing is permitted. As well as extra hygiene requirements, members of the congregation have to sit in designated seats 1.5 meters apart. All Read more
Among those who believe the Catholic Church must modernise to save itself from perpetual decline, some of the staunchest advocates are church leaders here in Germany. Some German bishops have spoken in favour of abandoning the celibacy requirement for priests and vaulting women into leadership roles now off-limits. Some have urged updating the religion’s stern Read more
The German Church’s income rose by 3.3 per cent to a record 6.64 billion euros in 2018, despite the massive exodus of 216, 078 German Catholics in the same year. The figures were published in a bishops’ conference brochure, “The Catholic Church in Germany: Facts and Figures 2018/19”, presented in Bonn on 8 August. “This Read more