Bishop Georg Bätzing watches ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp speak at the “Synodal Way” assembly in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept 8. 2022. / Synodaler Weg / Maximilian von Lachner
Rome Newsroom, Jul 27, 2023 / 10:07 am (CNA).
German bishops and representatives of the Roman Curia met in the Vatican on Wednesday to continue discussions started last year about the German Synodal Way.
According to a joint statement from the Vatican and the German bishops’ conference, the July 26 meeting took place in a “positive and constructive climate” and will be followed by other encounters.
The meeting was convened, the brief statement said, following the German bishops’ November 2022 ad limina visit, when “it was agreed that the theological and disciplinary issues that emerged in particular in the ‘Synodal Way’ would be further discussed.”
The Synodal Way, which began in 2019, is a collaborative effort between the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and the German bishops’ conference.
During a concluding assembly in March, delegates overwhelmingly passed measures to change Church practices based on transgender ideology and to push the universal Church to ordain women to the sacramental diaconate.
Delegates also voted to adopt same-sex blessings, normalize lay preaching, and ask Rome to “reexamine” the discipline of priestly celibacy.
While the Germans pushed forward with these controversial measures, the assembly held back from crossing a line laid down by the Vatican concerning the establishment of synodal councils at the national, diocesan, and parochial levels. The Vatican has said the synodal council model, which involves shared governance between bishops and the laity, is not consistent with Catholic ecclesiology.
Pope Francis and the Vatican have intervened repeatedly in the Synodal Way, as have a large number of bishops and theologians, both from Germany and around the world, raising serious concerns about many aspects of the process.
Francis wrote a letter to all Catholics in Germany in June 2019 warning of a “belief that the best response to the many problems and shortcomings that exist is to reorganize things, change them, and ‘put them back together’ to bring order and make ecclesial life easier.”
The Germans who attended the July 26 discussions at the Vatican were Bishops Georg Bätzing, Stephan Ackermann, Michael Gerber, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck. The bishops’ conference secretary general, Beate Gilles, and spokesperson, Matthias Kopp, were also in attendance.
On the Vatican side, five heads of departments and one secretary participated: Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Archbishop Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts; and Archbishop Vittorio Viola, secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
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Pope Francis waves to crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square on June 19, 2022, on Corpus Christi Sunday. / Vatican Media
Denver Newsroom, Jun 19, 2022 / 09:56 am (CNA).
The Feast of Corpus Christi is a time for Christians to remember that God will meet their basic needs to eat and to be filled with the joy and amazement of receiving loving nourishment from Jesus Christ, Pope Francis said Sunday.
At the same time, the pope emphasized, the Eucharist must also move Christians to action.
“We can evaluate our Eucharistic Adoration when we take care of our neighbor like Jesus does,” the pope said Sunday before the recitation of the Angelus at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
“There is hunger for food around us, but also for companionship; there is hunger for consolation, friendship, good humor; there is hunger for attention, there is hunger to be evangelized. We find this in the Eucharistic Bread — the attention of Christ to our needs and the invitation to do the same toward those who are beside us. We need to eat and feed others.”
The pope’s remarks reflected on Sunday’s Gospel reading, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes from the Gospel of Luke.
The pope linked the reading to the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Eucharist was like “the destination of a journey along which Jesus had prefigured through several signs, above all the multiplication of the loaves narrated in the Gospel of today’s liturgy.”
The pontiff reflected on the manner of the miracle when Jesus fed so many who lacked food.
“The miracle of the loaves and fishes does not happen in a spectacular way, but almost secretly, like the wedding at Cana — the bread increases as it passes from hand to hand. And as the crowd eats, they realize that Jesus is taking care of everything,” said Pope Francis.
“This is the Lord present in the Eucharist. He calls us to be citizens of Heaven, but at the same time he takes into account the journey we have to face here on earth,” he said. “If I have hardly any bread in my sack, he knows and takes care of it himself.”
Thousands gather in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on June 19, 2022, to hear Pope Francis’ Angelus reflections. Vatican Media
The pope connected the tangible needs of food with the intangible needs of humankind.
“Sometimes there is the risk of confining the Eucharist to a vague, distant dimension, perhaps bright and perfumed with incense, but rather distant from the straits of everyday life. In reality, the Lord takes all our needs to heart, beginning with the most basic,” he said.
“In the Eucharist, everyone can experience this loving and concrete attention of the Lord. Those who receive the Body and Blood of Christ with faith not only eat, but are satisfied. To eat and to be satisfied: These are two basic necessities that are satisfied in the Eucharist,” he added. “The crowd is satisfied because of the abundance of food and also because of the joy and amazement of having received it from Jesus!”
Jesus Christ’s self-giving presence is key to understanding the Eucharist, the pope said.
“We certainly need to nourish ourselves, but we also need to be satisfied, to know that the nourishment is given to us out of love. In the Body and Blood of Christ, we find his presence, his life given for each of us. He not only gives us help to go forward, but he gives us himself — he makes himself our traveling companion, he enters into our affairs, he visits us when we are lonely, giving us back a sense of enthusiasm.”
“This satisfies us, when the Lord gives meaning to our life, our obscurities, our doubts; he sees the meaning, and this meaning that the Lord gives satisfies us,” the pope explained. Everyone is looking for the presence of the Lord, because “in the warmth of his presence, our lives change,” the pope added.
“Without him, everything would truly be gray,” he said. “Adoring the Body and Blood of Christ, let us ask him with our heart: ‘Lord, give me that daily bread to go forward, Lord, satisfy me with your presence!’”
The pope also prayed that the Virgin Mary may teach us “how to adore Jesus, living in the Eucharist and to share him with our brothers and sisters.”
Statements on Spanish martyrs, Ukraine war
After the Angelus, the pope discussed the Saturday beatification of Dominican religious who were killed in the Spanish Civil War.
“They were all killed in hatred of the faith in the religious persecution that took place in Spain in the context of the civil war of the last century,” the pope said, calling for applause for them. “Their witness of adherence to Christ and forgiveness for their killers show us the way to holiness and encourage us to make their lives an offering of love to God and their brothers and sisters.”
The conflict of Ukraine after the Russian invasion also was a point for prayer, the pope said: “Let us not forget the suffering of the Ukrainian people in this moment, a people who are suffering.”
“I would like you all to keep in mind a question: What am I doing today for the Ukrainian people? Do I pray? Am I doing something? Am I trying to understand? What am I doing today for the Ukrainian people? Each one of you, answer in your own heart,” he asked.
Prayers for Myanmar, World Meeting of Families
Pope Francis also lamented the violence in Myanmar, which has forced many to flee their homes and blocked them from meeting basic needs.
“I join the appeal of the bishops of that beloved land, that the international community does not forget the Burmese people, that human dignity and the right to life be respected, as well as places of worship, hospitals, and schools. And I bless the Burmese community in Italy, represented here today,” he said.
In early 2021 the Myanmar military seized power in the country. Its crackdown on opponents provoked a violent backlash. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said the conflict has displaced more than 800,000 people from their homes. Of these, 250,000 are children.
Pope Francis also noted that the 10th World Meeting of Families will begin June 22 in Rome and throughout the world. Around 2,000 Catholic families will gather in Rome this week to meet Pope Francis and hear talks on marriage and the faith.
“I thank the bishops, parish priests, and family pastoral workers who have called families to moments of reflection, celebration and festivity,” he said. “Above all, I thank the married couples and families who will bear witness to family love as a vocation and way to holiness. Have a good meeting!”
Dome of the Rock with Christian church in foreground in Jerusalem. / Shutterstock
Rome Newsroom, Mar 9, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis underlined the “universal value” of Jerusalem in a meeting with members of a Vatican-Palestinian interre… […]
6 Comments
We read: “… the assembly held back from crossing a line laid down by the Vatican concerning the establishment of synodal councils at the national, diocesan, and parochial levels.”
Exactly so! And because the Church is Catholic, not German, we can even appeal to such old fashioned events also in merry ol’ England under Henry XVIII, as dramatized (!) by the agnostic Robert Bolt in his play pitting Thomas More against the backsliders (double entendre intended):
About focus groups masquerading as mixed “synodal councils,” says Thomas More to Norfolk:
“Is there no single sinew in the midst of this that serves no appetite of Norfolk’s but is just Norfolk? There is! Give THAT some exercise, my lord! Because as you stand, you’ll go before your Maker in a very ill condition! And he’ll have to think that somewhere back along your pedigree–a bitch got over the wall!” (“A Man for All Seasons,” Act II).
What an outstanding example of synodaling before the Synod on Synodaling. Hate to see the Germans mis-synodal later this year and threaten the universal synodal effort. Hopefully, accompanying the Germans will get them to synodal more slowly to allow the unified goals of the synodaling paradigm shift to formally launch the Synodal Church.
Dang Germans. Synodaling should not be this complex.
It will all become clear next year when they announce a new Syod on making future Synods on Synodality more Synodal, with a preliminary Synod for the Synod on making futre Synods on Synodality more Synodal in case anyone might still be confused.
“Time is greater than space. It took decades to create a contraceptive mentality.”
“Ja, ja, but we are running out of time!”
“Shall we break for lunch?”
“Strudel mit schlag! A wonderful idea.”
We read: “… the assembly held back from crossing a line laid down by the Vatican concerning the establishment of synodal councils at the national, diocesan, and parochial levels.”
Exactly so! And because the Church is Catholic, not German, we can even appeal to such old fashioned events also in merry ol’ England under Henry XVIII, as dramatized (!) by the agnostic Robert Bolt in his play pitting Thomas More against the backsliders (double entendre intended):
About focus groups masquerading as mixed “synodal councils,” says Thomas More to Norfolk:
“Is there no single sinew in the midst of this that serves no appetite of Norfolk’s but is just Norfolk? There is! Give THAT some exercise, my lord! Because as you stand, you’ll go before your Maker in a very ill condition! And he’ll have to think that somewhere back along your pedigree–a bitch got over the wall!” (“A Man for All Seasons,” Act II).
What an outstanding example of synodaling before the Synod on Synodaling. Hate to see the Germans mis-synodal later this year and threaten the universal synodal effort. Hopefully, accompanying the Germans will get them to synodal more slowly to allow the unified goals of the synodaling paradigm shift to formally launch the Synodal Church.
Dang Germans. Synodaling should not be this complex.
It will all become clear next year when they announce a new Syod on making future Synods on Synodality more Synodal, with a preliminary Synod for the Synod on making futre Synods on Synodality more Synodal in case anyone might still be confused.
Comparing notes.
“Time is greater than space. It took decades to create a contraceptive mentality.”
“Ja, ja, but we are running out of time!”
“Shall we break for lunch?”
“Strudel mit schlag! A wonderful idea.”
Since so many of us have been tragically abused physically, the synodal solution is to tragically abuse all of us theologically.