religion
Catholic Church discusses future at World Synod in Rome
Georg Bätzing is chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference and Bishop of Limburg. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
Hundreds of churchmen and some women come together for the world synod in Rome. The expectations are high. But there are already doubts in advance that anything will actually change.
Selected participants will meet in Rome on Wednesday World Synod of the Catholic Church to discuss its future path together. Hundreds of bishops, laypeople and even some women are expected for the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops – the official title – in the Vatican. They are intended to open up new avenues for the participation of the church base in future decisions. However, topics that are controversial within the church should also be discussed, such as the position of women or the treatment of homosexuals.
The World Synod is considered one of the most important reform projects of Pope Francis (86) in his ten-year term in office. The pontiff presents the synod as a large co-determination project. Around 365 voting members will take part in the conference from October 4th to 29th. The vast majority are bishops, but there are also other clergy and lay people – non-clergy. For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, 54 women were admitted as voting members. In addition, there are experts who are not allowed to vote.
In the preparatory part of the world synod, the Pope asked all local churches what topics they wanted to bring into the process. The results were recorded in a working document, the “Instrumentum laboris”, on the basis of which we are now speaking.
Pope wants open church for everyone
The meeting, which has been eagerly awaited for some time, is essentially about the Pope’s vision of an open church for everyone. The Argentine has repeatedly emphasized that no one should feel excluded in the Catholic Church. However, critics accuse him of saying that such statements are not enough: If the church is to be open to everyone, then the structures would have to be changed accordingly. At the moment, however, homosexuality is a sin according to Catholic doctrine and the Vatican has banned the blessing of same-sex couples. The priesthood and therefore all episcopal offices are reserved exclusively for men.
Reformers often criticize that the World Synod will not bring any tangible changes. The working paper is far too vague for that. For conservatives, however, the entire process has gone far too far. They fear any change with regard to issues such as homosexuality and women’s ordination – the calling of women to ordination offices.
Bätzing “convinces that all topics are on the table”
There are also six participants from Germany at the meeting. The German Bishops’ Conference has appointed its chairman Georg Bätzing from Limburg, Bertram Meier from Augsburg and Franz-Josef Overbeck from Essen. The Pope also appointed the bishops of Münster, Felix Genn, and Passau, Stefan Oster, as well as the ex-head of the Vatican religious authority, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.
The vice president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), theology professor Thomas Söding, was appointed as a non-voting expert. However, ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp was ignored by the Vatican. In a statement, she called for “courageous debates” at the world synod. “It is no longer time to hesitate. It is time to act,” said Stetter-Karp.
Bätzing said in an interview with the German Press Agency that he was “convinced that all issues will be on the table.” It is also by no means the case that the issues that are important to German believers do not play a role in other countries: “The questions about reforms have been raised in advance by many countries.”
Pope Francis and the synod coordinator Jean-Claude Hollerich have repeatedly said that the world synod is not initially about concrete changes, but rather about how Catholics want to interact with one another within the church and make decisions in the future. So you want to talk about the “how” rather than the “what”. That will come later in further steps. Accordingly, the synod should end at the end of October with a “roadmap” that shows the way to the next meeting. Because Pope Francis has divided the General Assembly of the World Synod into two parts: it will continue in autumn 2024.