Bishops from Germany last week pledged commitment to reforms to Catholic teaching that have been criticised by the Vatican.
Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK), told reporters in Rome following a series of meetings with Pope Francis and other figures in the Vatican hierarchy that they wished to be “Catholic in a different way” by implementing reforms discussed in the German Synodal Path.
“We are Catholic,” Bätzing said at a news conference. “But we want to be Catholic in a different way.”
The German bishops were in Rome last week for their “ad limina visit” which included a meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday. On Friday they attended a meeting with the Heads of some Dicasteries of the Roman Curia at the Augustinianum Institute in Rome to reflect together on the ongoing German Synodal Path.
The Synodal Path progressive Catholic movement seeks to allow blessings for same-sex couples, married priests and the ordination of women as deacons.
The church launched the reform movement in 2019 to try to increase their dwindling congregations and in response to sex abuse scandals involving the church.
Bätzing assured the Vatican that the German Catholic Church would “not make any decisions that would only be possible in the context of the universal church,” including changes to core doctrine.
“However, the church in Germany wants to and must provide answers to the questions being asked by the faithful,” he insisted.
In the face of criticism from the Vatican, Bätzing said that reform issues are not “closed”.
“As far as the ordination of women is concerned, for example, (the Vatican’s) view is very clear, that the question is closed. But the question exists and it has to elaborated and discussed,” the bishop said. “All these questions are on the table and all attempts [to] cancel them will not have success.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who moderated the discussions, referred to “the importance of the meeting as a moment of sharing and grace and of unity in differences”, mentioning the concerns raised by the Synodal Path, notably, the “risk of reforms of the Church, but not within the Church”.
He reflected the views of the Vatican which has pushed back at the movement, arguing that the church risks a schism if it implements reforms.
Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, supported Parolin, expressing “with frankness and clarity their concerns and reservations regarding the methodology, contents and proposals of the Synodal Way”.
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