Bätzing before the World Synod: “We only have this chance”

Rome’s expectations of the forthcoming World Synod are high, says the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bätzing, in an interview. He explains what questions and contradictions the Catholic Church wants to tackle.

ARD: A synodal process will begin in Rome at the weekend that will last two years and involve all levels of the Catholic Church. Does the Catholic Church have that much time anyway?

Georg Bätzing: The pressure that lies on the questions that we are working on in the synodal way in the German Church is evident. In the last few days in particular, there have been appalling results on abuse in the French Church. Anyone who comes up now and says that the church has no systemic problem is blind – or he does not want to see what the reality of the church is.

On the other hand, only as a universal church community can we actually proceed only thoroughly. And the Pope presents a certain topic for this process: he wants to know what experiences with synodal counseling already exist in the universal church, and basically wants to set these experiences in motion for the universal church in the first place. These are two different topics at two different speeds. But I don’t see how it could be any other way.

ARD: The faithful have already been involved and questioned at other events, for example before the family synod or the youth synod. At the end of the day, you don’t always get the impression that what you wanted appears in the final documents. There is also an enormous potential for frustration …

Bätzing: I believe that this is also what the global process will be about: What will become of the synodally compiled results? Who are the ones who will then create and confirm such a final document? Whether this can really only be the Pope in the long run is actually in question.

“We are not taking a special German route”

ARD: But the Pope also made it clear. He doesn’t want a church parliament …

Bätzing: In conversation with those who are now responsible for this Synod in Rome, I really had the impression: They are pushing it. They want real results. And that has to happen too. I mean, it is also democratic when the entire people of God, a diocese and the universal Church are included. But the Church is in fact not a democracy, it is made up of an episcopal structure, with the Pope at its head. And that is where the decision-making authority lies.

I myself advocate much more democratic processes, which can certainly be communicated with the hierarchical constitution of the churches. It doesn’t do any harm, it can only help. And that is exactly what the Pope wants to create: to involve a large number of people, believers of all levels and strata of all nationalities and cultures in the processes that we need.

ARD: Do you have the impression that the Vatican in Rome is sensitive enough to the very critical mood in Germany, which became clear, for example, in the Synodal Way?

Bätzing: I think I perceive a certain anxiety in the Vatican. You have to keep saying that we’re not playing a game here because we have nothing else to do, we only have this chance. And we are not taking a special German route. There are no special German questions either, but it becomes more and more clear to me in contact with representatives of the churches in other countries who tell us: These are precisely the questions that are on the top of our list.

“I think the Pope knows about the situation”

ARD: The Pope’s decision to keep Cardinal Woelki and Archbishop Heße in office has caused great displeasure among many believers in Germany and is still being hotly debated. Did Pope Francis understand how critical the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany is?

Bätzing: In the summer I had the opportunity to speak to the Pope and also to the prefects of the respective congregations and there I made it very clear what the mood of the faithful is. I already have the impression that one knows about the seriousness of the situation we are in and the urgency of the situation we are in. The problem that is signaled to me again and again is: ‘Please also think of us, of our possibilities within the framework of universal church legislation. We cannot simply act there as we want, but are bound by laws, are bound to the approval of the universal church. ‘ There is a contradiction here. I have to say that. But I think the Pope is very well aware of the situation here with us.

ARD: Last weekend there was a large majority in the Synodal Way in Frankfurt for far-reaching reform proposals, for example on power and the separation of powers in the church. Which of these would you like to bring to the synodal process of the universal church?

Bätzing: The synodal process of the universal church deals, so to speak, with a formality, namely: How does synodality work? That is the task of the universal church process. And of course we will also give the resolutions that we take to Rome in terms of content and also enter them into this synodal path. The point that was approved by a large majority last weekend – namely the topic: Bishops can bind themselves and thus place decisions in the hands of elected representatives – that is possible. This can be set up in a universal church.

The interview was conducted by Tilmann Kleinjung, BR.