As predicted, the progressive Synodal Path capped off a three-day meeting in Germany by voting for a permanent council of clerics and laypeople to oversee the local Church. This “decision-making body” will decide upon “pastoral planning, future perspectives and budgetary issues” which are not decided at the diocesan level. In the end, 93 per cent of members approved the document, including 88 per cent of bishops.
Progressives however failed to pass a document updating teaching on sexual ethics, with Living in succeeding relationships rejected, but only just. While over two-thirds of participants voted to adopt the text, and while a majority of bishops voted to adopt it as well, as the synod required a two-thirds majority of bishops to pass any resolution, the measure ultimately failed. Still, that a majority backed the measure at all will send alarm bells ringing in Rome.
One especially significant text – Women in ministries and offices in the Church – was however approved 182 to 16 (with 7 abstentions). While not advocating directly for women priests, the text claims that “for generations, many women have known that they were called by God to be deaconesses or priestesses.” It proposes that “in future, it should no longer be gender that decides on the allocation of ministries, but the vocation, abilities, and skills that serve the proclamation of the Gospel in our time.”
LGBT issues were also a major issue for the Synodal Path. In addition to the above, 92 per cent of delegates and 83 per cent of bishops backed a text calling for “a re-evaluation of homosexuality in the Magisterium”. Meanwhile, over 90 per cent of participants endorsed a text potentially paving the way for gay priests, and a further 95 per cent voted for reforming the employment law of the Church regarding employing those in same-sex relationships.
Some of the texts under consideration can be adopted without the Vatican’s approval, while others will require consent. Despite seeing a constituency for a progressive Catholicism in Germany, there has still been significant domestic pushback. Cardinal Walter Kasper – former President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity – for instance, has claimed the Synodal Path is ignoring the Pope, and if it continues to ignore his concerns, could “break the German Synodal Path’s neck”.
In essence, the Synodal Path is a series of conferences of the German Church to discuss theological and organisational questions, and is divided into forums on separation of powers; succeeding relationships; priestly existence, and the role of women. A majority at a conference in February endorsed women’s ordination, same-sex partnerships getting a public blessing, reforming teachings on sexual ethics, and allowing married priests.
The Synodal Assembly has signalled its intent to challenge Church doctrine and discipline, and vowed to issue binding teaching on a range of matters. Pope Francis wrote a letter to German Catholics in 2019 objecting to the course of action. However, in 2021, a “Fundamental Text” asserted that “there is no one truth of the religious, moral, and political world, and no one form of thought that can lay claim to ultimate authority.”
The potential for schism now hangs in the air, even though the Pope and his allies are more inclined to see traditionalists as threatening the unity of the Church. The Synodal Path also risks splits within Europe, as Catholics in central and eastern Europe tend towards a much more conservative approach. The ball is perhaps now in the Vatican’s court, but given recent reforms to the Order of Malta, should Catholics not expect a clericalist approach to be taken now? If not, why not?
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