The Roman Curia Again Corrects German Bishops

On the Curia side, there were Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State; Víctor Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; Robert Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; and Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; as well as Msgr. Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts.

The German bishops were represented by Bishops Georg Bätzing, Stephan Ackermann, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck. The General Secretary of the DBK, Beate Gilles, and the spokesperson of the DBK, Matthias Kopp, were also present.

Report of the Second Meeting of the Synodal Committee

The press release, published on the DBK website, states that the German bishops gave a report on the last meeting of the Synodal Committee, which, as Vatican News explains, examined “the theological foundations and the possibility of the legal realization of a national synod body.”

The German bishops explained “the relationship between the exercise of episcopal ministry and the promotion of the co-responsibility of all the faithful,” emphasizing “aspects of canon law for the establishment of a concrete form of synodality in the Church in Germany,” as Vatican News reports.

The bishops again explained that a “commission established by the Synodal Committee will deal with issues related to synodality and the structure of a synodal body.” In order to develop a plan for this body, this commission “will work in close contact with a similar commission composed of representatives of the competent Dicasteries,” the press release notes.

The Roman Curia Corrects the Synodal Council

But the Roman Curia set a framework for the future of the Synodal Committee, whose main objective is to implement the famous “national” Synodal Council, which has already been criticized several times by Rome: a somewhat limiting framework, which focuses on two points.

First, the cardinals requested that “a change in the name and in several aspects of the previously formulated proposal for a possible national synodal body.” In other words, this body could not be called a national “Synodal Council.” The other “several aspects” are not further specified.

The second request concerns the “the place of this body”: according to the press release, “there is agreement that it is neither above nor at the same level as the Bishops’ Conference.” This is a crucial clarification. Consider what it means in the context of the German synodal process.

This Synodal Council is the result of the decision of the Synodal Path: “Sustainable strengthening Synodality: A Synodal Council for the Catholic Church in Germany,” approved on September 10, 2022. This document provides for the creation of a “Synodal Council.”

This council is described as “an advisory and decision-making body” which “shall advise on major developments in the Church and in society and based on this shall take fundamental decisions of supradiocesan significance on pastoral planning, future perspectives of the Church and financial and budgetary matters of the Church that are not decided at diocesan level.”

This advice must therefore be significantly revised downwards, following the requests of the Curia. But it is not certain that this will be accepted in Germany, especially by the Central Committee of German Catholics, which criticizes the German bishops and asks them to be firm with Rome.