German Bishops’ Conference: Bätzing for “essential changes”

The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bätzing, has called for reforms in the Catholic Church. At the beginning of the autumn plenary meeting, for example, he spoke out in favor of a change in sexual morality.

At the beginning of its autumn plenary assembly, the German Bishops’ Conference underlined the will to reform. The aim of the current reform process of the German Catholics, the Synodal Way, is “to change the actions of the Church very specifically,” said the chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, at the beginning of the four-day meeting. It is not about a “minor paint job”, but rather about “significant changes”, according to Bätzing.

The people inside and outside the church should feel “that essentials are changing,” said Bätzing. In concrete terms, this means for Bätzing: “According to my concept, the role of women is, as I have said often enough, the decisive question for the future, and an opening into the services and offices must be discussed.” Regarding church sexual morality, he said: “We need signs. Signs also with regard to partnerships that are not concluded in a sacramental marriage, whether they are same-sex or multiple-sex. We need concrete signs.”

Hope for an early decision on the Archdiocese of Cologne

Bätzing made this assurance in the face of ever more pressing and impatient demands for reforms. Conservative bishops like the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki criticize that Bätzing and other reformers only stir up expectations that they could not meet in the end because the Vatican would not participate. This could then only lead to great frustration among German Catholics.

The bishops Rudolf Voderholzer from Regensburg and Stefan Oster from Passau even distance themselves from the reform process in the Catholic Church. Voderholzer recently even published alternative texts on the Synodal Way on its own website. Bätzing said that this was a “moment of surprise”, but Voderholzer’s initiative did not endanger the Synodal Way in any way. Whether it was wise of him to act like that remains to be seen.

Largest German diocese in the permanent crisis

The chairman of the Bishops’ Conference also urged an early decision in the case of Cardinal Woelki from Cologne. The largest German diocese has been in a permanent crisis for a year because Woelki initially withheld an opinion on how to deal with allegations of abuse due to legal concerns. “We’re waiting. I’m waiting too,” said Bätzing.

He hopes “that it doesn’t take too long anymore”. Many people were hoping for a decision – but the assessment of the visitors sent by Pope Francis to Cologne is not yet available, according to Bätzing.

Understanding of criticism of the decision to Heße

The Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, who had offered the Pope to resign in March, also took part in the autumn plenary meeting. The reason for this was that an expert opinion had proven breaches of duty in dealing with sexual abuse. Last week, Pope Francis had decided that Heße can return to his office.

This triggered criticism. In Fulda, Bätzing expressed understanding for the irritation. “I can understand that really well,” he said. For the Pope, however, the decisive factor was that he had found no evidence of an “active, deliberate cover-up” by Hesse. But it is not the case that the Pope always holds his protective hand over the bishops. In recent years, a number of bishops around the world have lost their office, said Bätzing.

Words of warning from the Pope’s ambassador

The Apostolic Nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, made an urgent appeal to the German bishops to preserve the unity of the Church and to follow the instructions of the Pope. In your greeting, the Vatican diplomat recalled a Spanish radio interview with the Pope. In it, Francis recently said that it was not bad will that drives many German bishops, but “a pastoral demand”, which, however, “does not take into account” some of the Pope’s instructions. He formulated these instructions on June 29, 2019 in the papal letter “to the pilgrim people of God in Germany”.

Eterovic recalled that Cardinal State Secretary Pietro Parolin had already repeated some passages from this letter in his address in Berlin three months ago, referring to “the importance of unity in the Catholic Church”. Parolin quoted the Pope as saying: “Whenever an ecclesiastical community tried to get out of its problems on its own, and only trusted in its own strength, its own methods and its own intelligence, it ended in the evils that one had to overcome wanted to still multiply and maintain “.