Church – Frankfurt am Main – Synodal assembly wants to reform the church: breakdown at the end – panorama
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – The German Catholics have concluded the second synodal assembly of their reform process with “clear directional decisions”. He was “incredibly touched” because so much had been achieved at the three-day meeting of the Synodal Way, said the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, on Saturday in Frankfurt / Main.
However, there was an embarrassing mishap at the end: the meeting could be ended prematurely because too few members were present in the hall and the committee no longer had a quorum. Quite a number of members had left early, including several bishops. Bätzing and the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, warned the more than 200 members of the assembly that this should not happen again.
At the same time, Bätzing expressed his satisfaction: “Texts have been debated that are not just texts, but dreams put into words about how we want to change the church in Germany: a church that is participative, gender-equitable and on the way with people. “According to the ideas of the Synodal Assembly, the church should be structured more democratically in the future, so believers should have a say in the appointment of bishops.
However, it is still unclear whether this will really happen, because the process is far from over and in the end nothing can be decided without a two-thirds majority of the bishops.
The Osnabrück Bishop Franz-Josef Bode particularly emphasized the template “Living in successful relationships”: “The text honors sexuality as a positive force and recognizes that all human beings in their sexuality are created and loved by God. Sexuality and identity belong together. “
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, former prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized the reform process. Anyone who is even halfway knowledgeable knows “that this drama in front of a public outside the church is about power and not about the truth of the gospel,” said Müller to the German press agency.
The Synodal Assembly is the main body of the Synodal Way. It deals with four subject areas: the position of women in the church, dealing with power, Catholic sexual morality and priestly celibacy. At the end of the path, expected in 2023, concrete reforms should be in place.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211002-99-454419 / 6