German bishops meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican amid concern over Synodal Way

AC Wimmer   By AC Wimmer for CNA

 

Cardinal Reinhard Marx and fellow bishops from Germany meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2022 / Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Nov 17, 2022 / 07:52 am (CNA).

Pope Francis received the German bishops at the Vatican on Thursday.

The audience with Pope Francis lasted about two hours, the German Bishops’ Conference said in a statement published after the encounter, describing the meeting as an “open round of talks” in which “the bishops were able to raise their questions and issues, and the pope answered them individually.”

The statement briefly mentioned that “aspects of the Synodal Way of the Church in Germany, and the worldwide synodal process also came up in the conversation.”

As CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported, the press release also said that the pontiff and the bishops exchanged “reflections on pastoral care in changed times,” “the self-understanding of the priestly and episcopal ministry, the commitment of laypeople in the Church, as well as the challenge of how evangelization can succeed in the context of a secular world.”

“In addition, the bishops were able to report on their experiences in the dioceses,” the statement continued.

“The question of political responsibility, social cohesion, and a perspective for peace in the face of global and regional conflicts shaped the meeting.”

Pope Francis meeting with the German bishops at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2022. Vatican Media
Pope Francis meeting with the German bishops at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2022. Vatican Media

Sixty-three German bishops are in Rome this week for their ad limina visit, which concludes Nov. 18. Every diocesan bishop in the world must make an “ad limina apostolorum” papal visit to provide an update on the state of one’s diocese.

On Friday, the German bishops will meet with the heads of several Vatican dicasteries to discuss the Synodal Way.

According to news agency KNA, the bishops also discussed the controversial process in a meeting with Cardinal Mario Grech, who is responsible for the Synod on Synodality, on Wednesday.

In an interview published on his diocese’s website ahead of the visit, the head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said he believed it was “no coincidence that we bishops are now invited to Rome.”

The German bishop said there was “a lot of lack of understanding about our process in Rome.”

“That’s why I’m very grateful that we really have a lot of time to talk about this together. This is a real opportunity.”

An initiative of German Catholics critical of the Synodal Way this week called on Pope Francis to intervene in the process, CNA Deutsch reported.

“Intervene courageously!” the organizers of the “New Beginning” (Neuer Anfang) said. “Stop the pseudo-democratic restructuring of the Church! Defend the common faith! And defend the weak against the violence of the apparatus.”

At the same time, supporters of the controversial process said they expected from the Vatican “finally a clear sign of appreciation of the German Synodal Way,” according to CNA Deutsch.

The Synodal Way — Synodaler Weg in German, sometimes translated as Synodal Path — is a controversial process with the declared aim of debating and passing resolutions about four topics: the way power is exercised in the Church, the priesthood, the role of women, and sexual morality.

Writing about the process, Pope Francis in 2019 warned of disunity in a letter to German Catholics.

More recently, in early November, Pope Francis spoke about making sure to “not lose the people’s sense of faith.”

It was true, he said, that “Germany has a great Protestant church. I don’t want another one that is not as good as this one. I want Catholics to be fraternally united with the Protestant Church.”


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6 Comments

  1. Holy Father wants to make a demonstration of merciful listening. There may be some good grounds, I can’t say I know them.

    Question of Prudence. Question of Justice. Getting them wrong means Temperance and Fortitude are taken hostage. The rest of us are kept in a sense at disadvantages.

    Public mercifulness expressed through a group setting surely wouldn’t be singular option way to format discussion or provoke openings; more especially when nothing’s settled.

    And if it doesn’t go well, or turn out as well as wonted, the thing will be judged by the consequences and postponements and artifices among other things.

    But I’m not the Pontiff and can’t claim any special merits or insights, to offer any certainty. It appears similar to the publicizing of the Fr. Martin contacts.

  2. The German bishop [Bätzing] said there was a lot of lack of understanding about our process in Rome.” What that misunderstanding is, is a mystery. Reason is that the Synodaler Weg has gone its own way on the path [weg] toward radical deconstruction of the Catholic faith.
    The pontiff responded with a relatively weak admonition in a 2019 letter, “The current challenges, as well as the answers we give, demand a long maturation process and the cooperation of an entire people over years. Seeking immediate results can have consequences that are fleeting because they do not correspond to the vocation we are given.” Similar to a 2015 admonition that “To accept and endure the present situation is an invitation to face what has died in us and in our congregations, which requires evangelization and visitation by the Lord. But this requires courage”.
    This path or weg was initiated following German hierarchical disappointment [Cardinal Reinhard Marx resigned in anger from his post as president of the German National Conference of Bishops] with the apparent disinterest in Rome to follow out the recommendations of the Amazonia working document. A document that became the model for the Synodaler Weg.
    Events followed that question, the alleged ‘lack of understanding’ cited by Bishop Bätzing. Cardinal Marx’ resignation was refused by Francis, Marx offered the reward of a bishopric. Roman disenchantment with the Amazonia document seemed nominal considering the Pachamama event on the Vatican lawn, enshrinement of the goddess in the sanctuary of St Peter’s Basilica. Mixed signals for some though apparently well understood by German hierarchy.
    Enter the Neuer Anfang [New Beginning], a group of traditional Catholic notables, theologians who oppose the Synodaler Weg in no uncertain terms. To Francis, “Intervene courageously!”.

  3. Furthermore, adding to the mystery of a presumed misunderstanding, is the lack of a remarkable difference of the Synod on Synodality recent findings, to the objectives under study just announced by the Synodaler Weg. Nor of the explanations offered to justify their efforts by Cardinal Grech for the Synod on Synodality and bishop Bätzing for the Synodaler Weg.

  4. Wherever a man is most fulfilled in the Lord, there he should be. May he be a blessing and be blessed in turn.

    Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

    2 Timothy 2:2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

  5. There is a lot of content in this article, from the RC Church in Scotland to Methodism in the USA. I urge reading it all. It captures the wider context of the germans in Rome.

    I find CHURCH MILITANT too sensationalist but I go to the website for current news. Some of the documentaries also work well and provide at the same time news recaps.

    Problems come with journalism being too highly geared, the virtues lose their middle way, or, if you will, charity can’t measure them; detachment and mercifulness suffer, the room for hope can get reduced; it can weigh down when it should buoy up; mistakes are more likely and more prejudicial; learning curve tends to flatten.

    And I don’t mean to detract from their work well done or the good zeal with Voris and staff.

    https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/prelates-sign-pact-with-gay-marriage-sect

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