Bishop Voderholzer: A Narrow Conception of Truth

The Bishop of Regensburg must be given credit for being, along with Cardinal Rainer Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne, one of the first opponents of the German Synodal Path, relying on Francis's Letter to the Church in Germany and the Roman Curia's criticisms of the draft Statutes of the Synodal Path.

The two bishops then submitted a draft of alternative statutes to the Permanent Council of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), which was rejected by a majority of bishops. This draft took into account the criticisms of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, in his letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, regarding the draft proposed by the majority of bishops.

In a sermon on December 31, 2019, Bishop Voderholzer strongly criticized the synodal process. He even used the vigorous phrase: "Indignation in the face of abuses is the fire on which the soup of the Synodal Path must be cooked." But he is not always consistent in his attitude.

For example, during the first synodal assembly, Bishop Voderholzer received communion from a young woman during a Mass celebrated on January 31, 2020, in Frankfurt's St. Bartholomew's Cathedral.

He participated in the five Plenary Assemblies of the synodal process. He again expressed his opposition during the implementation phase. In June 2023, along with three other bishops, he refused to allow the Synodal Committee—responsible for this implementation—to be financed with church tax money. Indeed, a unanimous decision of the diocesan bishops is required to decide how this money will be used.

Most recently, in a letter dated May 19, 2025, addressed to Bishop Georg Bätzing, President of the DBK, the same four prelates refused to recognize the authority of the Synodal Committee and their membership in it. "We are neither ex officio members nor promoters of this Committee," they declared.

In a lengthy interview with the Schwäbische newspaper on June 13, 2025, the Bishop of Regensburg again criticized the Synodal Path, explaining that he was not against synodality, "but against a certain form of synodality that resembles more a parliamentary debate between parties than a shared listening to the Word of God."

He added that the Synodal Path is "influenced by the experience of a certain form of democracy in Catholic associations. But these are not questions of faith, but questions relating to the direction of a Catholic association," targeting the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zdk), which makes up half of the Synodal Path participants along with the DBK.

He finally asserts that "the objectives of the synodal path were unrealistic from the outset."

Enmity Against the Traditional Movement

Like many conservatives, the Bishop of Regensburg dislikes the traditional movement: he regularly protests against the ordinations celebrated at the Sacred Heart Seminary of the Society of Saint Pius X, located in Zaitzkofen, within his diocese.

In the aforementioned interview, he was asked about the Society. He responded: "It's not about Latin or the liturgy. ... It's about recognizing the Second Vatican Council, the teaching of the Church, and its tradition. ... In the Society, we see a political theology that places truth above freedom. This is unacceptable."

We must first understand what Bishop Voderholzer means by this criticism he addresses to the Society. It seems that he is criticizing an overly radical vision of truth: a truth that must be imposed on everyone. Hence the mention of a "political" theology, which imposes its way of seeing on society. He thus rejects the radical nature of truth.

This radical truth is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And He alone is the truth. Man only possesses it, or does not. But if he possesses Jesus Christ, then he is certainly right.

From this truth is born freedom in its fullness, according to these words of Christ: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (8:31-32). 

For the Bishop of Regensburg, recognizing the radical nature of truth seems to be an attack on freedom. He would undoubtedly accept the words of St. John, but within certain limits: as long as they leave room for error.

In other words, he is not far from Pontius Pilate's position: "What is truth?" The Roman procurator utters these words before the One who possesses all truth, Who is the truth. With such a position, it is impossible to recognize Christ's kingship over society. It is also impossible to escape the errors that have flourished since the Second Vatican Council.

Bishop Voderholzer’s mixed and cautious notion of truth will not allow him to be able to help the Church in Germany escape the schismatic path it has taken and which it seems determined to follow at all costs.