Five centuries after Martin Luther sparked a religious revolution in Europe, German Catholics are once again coming into conflict with the Vatican, this time over a planned meeting that would address key elements of the church’s moral teaching and discipline.
The German bishops are organizing a meeting, or Synodal Assembly, that would discuss issues including priestly celibacy, ordination, and marriage, raising concerns in the Vatican that they will try to change church teaching for German Catholics. The German bishops have been working closely with a lay group known as the Central Committee of German Catholics, which supports female ordination and opposes clerical celibacy.
The Germans are pushing forward despite objections from Rome. Earlier this month, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, sent Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, an assessment of the German bishops’ proposed meeting, which declared it is “not ecclesiologically valid.” But Marx responded in a letter last week to Ouellet, telling him the German bishops will move forward on a “binding synodal path.”
The assessment sent by Ouellet noted that the German bishops are exceeding their authority by attempting to discuss, in a binding manner, moral issues affecting the whole church.
“It is easy to see that these themes do not only affect the Church in Germany but the universal Church and, with few exceptions, cannot be the object of the deliberations or decisions of a particular Church without contravening what is expressed by the Holy Father in his letter,” the assessment stated.
Chad Pecknold, an associate professor of theology at the Catholic University of America, explained that the German bishops appear to want their assembly to function like a church council, which can make decisions about moral teachings that affect the entire church.
“What they are trying to do is act like a council, and councils actually can bind the conscience and make changes which affect the universal church. And this is why the Holy See has said no to Cardinal Marx, that this synodal process which has been proposed is ecclesiologically invalid,” Pecknold told the Washington Examiner.
Marx, for his part, contended the results of the assembly’s deliberations would be “helpful for the guidance of the universal Church and for other episcopal conferences.”
Pecknold said Marx has put himself in a tough position and risks reputational damage in Germany.
“Cardinal Marx is in quite a precarious position because on one hand, if he backs down, he loses with his German secular peers that he very much wants to win with, so he really will lose a lot of political and social capital at home in Germany if he concedes to the pope,” said Pecknold.
Pope Francis has pushed for ‘synodality’ since assuming the papacy in 2013. Synods function as “advisory panels” of bishops, and the concept of synodality “really just means collegiality,” Jessica Murdoch, a professor of theology at Villanova University, told the Catholic News Agency. Yet bishops remain “under the authority of the pope,” and synodality does not mean the church’s hierarchy is reduced to majority rule.
Robert Royal, president of the Faith & Reason Institute, a think tank devoted to integrating faith and reason to address public policy issues, said Pope Francis “has shown a certain sympathy for the liberalizing tendencies in Germany.” In a June letter, however, Pope Francis issued instructions to German bishops on the proper way to conduct the synodal process, which included a warning against democratizing church governance, or making church teaching a function what the majority favors.
“I think he’s really in a tough situation because I don’t think he wants this to happen the way the Germans are pushing it,” Royal told the Washington Examiner.
A survey from 2014 indicates a majority of German Catholics would like to see changes to church teachings on issues ranging from premarital sex to contraception. The Central Committee’s influence among German Catholics speaks to the prevalence of dissent toward orthodox moral views.
The Central Committee is “one of the most, if not the most, prominent Catholic lay groups in the country,” Ed Condon, a canon lawyer and Washington bureau chief for Catholic News Agency, told the Washington Examiner.
The controversy over the assembly has prompted speculation of the possibility of a schism.
“Cardinal Marx’s comments on his ‘synodal process’ make ever more clear that the leadership of the Catholic Church in Germany is in a de facto state of schism. Those currently concerned about ‘schisms’ in the Church might want to think about that,” said George Weigel, a biographer of Pope John Paul II and a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a think tank focused on applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to public policy.
Pecknold said the term “schism” can be thrown around loosely when discussing those who are not obeying the pope, but he said Marx’s “behavior looks to be that of a bishop going his own way.”
Condon said that he doesn’t think that schism is “imminent,” adding that the German bishops do not appear to be trying to break communion with Rome. They do, however, appear to be trying to discuss “settled matters” of church teaching, he said.
Marx and Ouellet are set to meet this week, and Condon said Marx might claim afterward that all misunderstandings were cleared up. If the Vatican then issues an alternative interpretation, and more directly rejects the German bishops’ synodal process, then “we’ll really start reaching sort of uncharted territory,” according to Condon.
“It hasn’t yet gotten to the point where there’s a clear ‘no’ that’s being ignored, and I think when we get to that moment that’s when it will be interesting,” said Condon.
