Pope Francis has written a letter to four German Catholic laywomen expressing his “concerns” about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany.
The following is CNA’s English translation of the full text of the German letter, signed by the pope on Nov. 10 and first published by the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21:
From the Vatican, November 10, 2023
Dear Professor Westerhorstmann,
Dear Professor Schlosser,
Dear Professor Gerl-Falkovitz,
Dear Mrs. Schmidt,
I extend my gratitude for your kind letter dated November 6. Your concerns regarding the current developments within the Church in Germany have reached me, and I share your concerns. There are indeed numerous steps being taken by significant segments of this local Church that threaten to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church’s common path. This doubtlessly includes the establishment of the synodal committee you referenced. This committee aims to set up a consultative and decision-making body. However, as outlined in the corresponding resolution, its proposed structure is not in alignment with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church. Consequently, its formation was forbidden by the Holy See in a letter dated January 16, 2023, which received my specific endorsement.
In my “Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany,” I sought not to find “salvation” in constantly evolving committees, nor to persist in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes. Rather, I aimed to reemphasize the importance of prayer, penance, and adoration. I urged an openness and a call to action to engage with our brothers and sisters, especially those found at the thresholds of our church doors, in the streets, within prisons, hospitals, public squares, and cities (as mentioned in section 8). I firmly believe that in these places, the Lord will guide us.
I commend your contributions to theology and philosophy and thank you for your witness to the Faith. May the Lord bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary keep you. I kindly ask that you continue to pray for me and for our shared commitment to unity.
United in the Lord,
Francis
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Pope Francis prays during Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Dec 24, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered on Dec. 24, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“A census of the whole earth” (cf. Lk 2:1). This was the context in which Jesus was born, and the Gospel makes a point of it. The census might have been mentioned in passing, but instead is carefully noted. And in this way, a great contrast emerges. While the emperor numbers the world’s inhabitants, God enters it almost surreptitiously. While those who exercise power seek to take their place with the great ones of history, the King of history chooses the way of littleness. None of the powerful take notice of him: only a few shepherds, relegated to the margins of social life.
The census speaks of something else. In the Scriptures, the taking of a census has negative associations. King David, tempted by large numbers and an unhealthy sense of self-sufficiency, sinned gravely by ordering a census of the people. He wanted to know how powerful he was. After some nine months, he knew how many men could wield a sword (cf. 2 Sam 24:1-9). The Lord was angered and the people suffered. On this night, however, Jesus, the “Son of David”, after nine months in Mary’s womb, is born in Bethlehem, the city of David. He does not impose punishment for the census, but humbly allows himself to be registered as one among many. Here we see, not a god of wrath and chastisement, but the God of mercy, who takes flesh and enters the world in weakness, heralded by the announcement: “on earth peace among those whom he favors” (Lk 2:14). Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world (cf. Lk 2:7).
The census of the whole earth, in a word, manifests the all-too-human thread that runs through history: the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures, a world obsessed with achievement. Yet the census also manifests the way of Jesus, who comes to seek us through enfleshment. He is not the god of accomplishment, but the God of Incarnation. He does not eliminate injustice from above by a show of power, but from below, by a show of love. He does not burst on the scene with limitless power, but descends to the narrow confines of our lives. He does not shun our frailties, but makes them his own.
Brothers and sisters, tonight we might ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? In the God of incarnation or the god of achievement? Because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success, and the idolatry of consumerism. With the false image of a distant and petulant deity who treats the good well and the bad poorly; a deity made in our own image and likeness, handy for resolving our problems and removing our ills. God, on the other hand, waves no magic wand; he is no god of commerce who promises “everything all at once”. He does not save us by pushing a button, but draws near us, in order to change our world from within. Yet how deeply ingrained is the worldly notion of a distant, domineering, unbending, and powerful deity who helps his own to prevail against others! So many times this image is ingrained in us. But that is not the case: our God was born for all, during a census of the whole earth.
Let us look, then, to the “living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9). The God who is beyond all human reckoning and yet allows himself to be numbered by our accounting. The God, who revolutionizes history by becoming a part of history. The God who so respects us as to allow us to reject him; who takes away sin by taking it upon himself; who does not eliminate pain but transforms it; who does not remove problems from our lives but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems. God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though he is, he becomes finite for our sake. In his greatness, he chooses to become small; in his righteousness, he submits to our injustice. Brothers and sisters, this is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God who saves the world by becoming incarnate. Let us contemplate the Child, let us contemplate the manger, his crib, which the angels call “a sign” for us (cf. Lk 2:12). For it truly is the sign that reveals God’s face, a face of compassion and mercy, whose might is shown always and only in love. He makes himself close, tender, and compassionate. This is God’s way: closeness, compassion, tenderness.
Sisters and brothers, let us marvel at the fact that he “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Flesh: the very word evokes our human frailty. The Gospel uses this word to show us that God completely assumed our human condition. Why did he go to such lengths? Because he cares for us, because he loves us to the point that he considers us more precious than all else. Dear brother, dear sister, to God, who changed history in the course of a census, you are not a number, but a face. Your name is written on his heart. But if you look to your own heart, and think of your own inadequacies and this world that is so judgmental and unforgiving, you may feel it difficult to celebrate this Christmas. You may think things are going badly, or feel dissatisfied with your limitations, your failings, your problems, and your sins. Today, though, please, let Jesus take the initiative. He says to you, “For your sake, I became flesh; for your sake, I became just like you”. So why remain caught up in your troubles? Like the shepherds, who left their flocks, leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God who became a child. Put aside your masks and your armor; cast your cares on him and he will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; he is looking not for your achievements but for your open and trusting heart. In him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God. Now you can believe it, for tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you. We have difficulty believing in this, that God’s eyes shine with love for us.
Christ does not look at numbers, but at faces. However, who looks at him amid the many distractions and mad rush of a bustling and indifferent world? Who is watching? In Bethlehem, as crowds of people were caught up in the excitement of the census, coming and going, filling the inns, and engaged in petty conversation, a few were close to Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and then the Magi.
Let us learn from them. They stood gazing upon Jesus, with their hearts set on him. They did not speak, they worshiped. Tonight, brothers and sisters, is a time of adoration, of worship.
Worship is the way to embrace the Incarnation. For it is in silence that Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us do as they did, in Bethlehem, a town whose name means “House of Bread”. Let us stand before him who is the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover worship, for to worship is not to waste time, but to make our time a dwelling place for God. It is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, who, like leaven, changes the world. To worship is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history. As a great teller of epic tales once wrote to his son, “I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth” (J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Letter 43, March 1941).
Brothers and sisters, tonight love changes history. Make us believe, Lord, in the power of your love, so different from the power of the world. Lord, make us, like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi, gather around you and worship you. As you conform us ever more to yourself, we shall bear witness before the world to the beauty of your countenance.
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12 Comments
Too little too late or is this enough of a finger in the dike to stem a looming disaster? Continuing dissent from erring synodalists should receive clearly restrictive and unambiguous consequences. May dissenters continue to skate around the words in the letter as they’ve skated around the millennial teachings of Christ and the Church for years?
In the tale within the tale of Hans Brinker, the boy CONTINUES, all alone and despite the cold, to plug the hole with his finger, ALL NIGHT. He suffers until the villagers arrive the next day to relieve him, to repair the dike and save the country.
Will Francis and Vatican friends continue actions to repair the damage, enforce strictures, or impose sanctions in the event of recurrence? Or is the response too little, too late?
Or simply made it clear to The German Bishops that their denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, has left them, ipso facto, outside The One Body Of Christ.
Surely, since the Strickland debacle, the proverb “actions not words” should be operative.
Bishop Strickland is a profoundly faithful and devout Roman Catholic. The German episcopate has manifested itself to be clearly, boldly and enthusiastically not.
Give the German episcopate the Strickland treatment and correct the scandalous injustice rendered to Bishop Joseph Strickland now.
“I sought not to find ‘salvation’ in constantly evolving committees, nor to persist in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read the above!
The Synod on Synodality to find a synodal way for a synodal Church and all the other preliminary SINods were nothing but “constantly evolving committees, and persisted in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes” of women priests and the normalization of homosexual acts and other immoral behavior!
Everything Pope Francis says here is true. What is absolutely necessary is for Francis to back up his words with action, that is, if there’s no compliance within a specified time. A time limit is required here because of the history of duplicity.
If the familiar pattern of verbal chastisement followed by tolerance repeats itself, it can be discounted. Catholic Christians need be aware of the difference between oration and practice. The latter will save us. Of itself the former not [words and faith alone may have been fine for Martin Luther, not for the tradition left by Christ for the Apostles, and the long sacred history of witness by our saints and martyrs]. Words can be used as deceitful weapons to anesthetize and render inert.
Certainly we hope for favorable response and resolution. Although can we reasonably bracket the Bishop Rey, Fréjus-Toulon, France neutralization by placing a coadjutor bishop with full authority to reform a very successful priest’s formation plan because it was too conservative?
Bergoglio’s actions do not meet his words. He has no credibility. His Peronist stunt of saying one thing and doing the opposite is so evident after more than 10 years of his abominable claimed papacy that he needs to be called out for the liar and hypocrite he is. Sorry, but it’s true.
Cf. The playbook he used in Argentina to eventually come out in support of civil homosexual unions, is the same playbook adopted as regards @DerSynodaleWeg.
Too little too late or is this enough of a finger in the dike to stem a looming disaster? Continuing dissent from erring synodalists should receive clearly restrictive and unambiguous consequences. May dissenters continue to skate around the words in the letter as they’ve skated around the millennial teachings of Christ and the Church for years?
In the tale within the tale of Hans Brinker, the boy CONTINUES, all alone and despite the cold, to plug the hole with his finger, ALL NIGHT. He suffers until the villagers arrive the next day to relieve him, to repair the dike and save the country.
Will Francis and Vatican friends continue actions to repair the damage, enforce strictures, or impose sanctions in the event of recurrence? Or is the response too little, too late?
If he was really concerned he would have given them the Bishop Strickland treatment months or years ago.
Fake letter and fake news.
Or simply made it clear to The German Bishops that their denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, has left them, ipso facto, outside The One Body Of Christ.
Precisely summed up by Jeremy above.
“…signifying nothing.”
More gaslighting and doublespeak from Francis. Is anyone really listening to anything this pope has to say at this point?
Surely, since the Strickland debacle, the proverb “actions not words” should be operative.
Bishop Strickland is a profoundly faithful and devout Roman Catholic. The German episcopate has manifested itself to be clearly, boldly and enthusiastically not.
Give the German episcopate the Strickland treatment and correct the scandalous injustice rendered to Bishop Joseph Strickland now.
“I sought not to find ‘salvation’ in constantly evolving committees, nor to persist in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read the above!
The Synod on Synodality to find a synodal way for a synodal Church and all the other preliminary SINods were nothing but “constantly evolving committees, and persisted in self-absorbed dialogues rehashing the same themes” of women priests and the normalization of homosexual acts and other immoral behavior!
Everything Pope Francis says here is true. What is absolutely necessary is for Francis to back up his words with action, that is, if there’s no compliance within a specified time. A time limit is required here because of the history of duplicity.
If the familiar pattern of verbal chastisement followed by tolerance repeats itself, it can be discounted. Catholic Christians need be aware of the difference between oration and practice. The latter will save us. Of itself the former not [words and faith alone may have been fine for Martin Luther, not for the tradition left by Christ for the Apostles, and the long sacred history of witness by our saints and martyrs]. Words can be used as deceitful weapons to anesthetize and render inert.
Certainly we hope for favorable response and resolution. Although can we reasonably bracket the Bishop Rey, Fréjus-Toulon, France neutralization by placing a coadjutor bishop with full authority to reform a very successful priest’s formation plan because it was too conservative?
Bergoglio’s actions do not meet his words. He has no credibility. His Peronist stunt of saying one thing and doing the opposite is so evident after more than 10 years of his abominable claimed papacy that he needs to be called out for the liar and hypocrite he is. Sorry, but it’s true.
Thank you Paul!
We do not have a Catholic Pope [@Pontifex]!
Cf. The playbook he used in Argentina to eventually come out in support of civil homosexual unions, is the same playbook adopted as regards @DerSynodaleWeg.
https://twitter.com/CrucifixDamiano/status/1639630252182994944?t=Bpm8X2Dtb6-Sq4rPUcTRcw&s=19
Pope Francis seems to be doing what he does best — CONFUSING — all of us and and himself.
May God bless Germany, the land and all dwellers in that part of the world, divine blessings, peace, joy, and harmony.