
The German Synodal Path: An Explainer
The approved drafts have fueled worries that the Church in Germany is steadily moving toward schism.
The approved drafts have fueled worries that the Church in Germany is steadily moving toward schism.
During the “Paschal Controversy” in the 2nd century, Irenaeus played a decisive role in mediating the dispute over the date of Easter.
The German bishops’ conference initially said that the process would end with a series of “binding” votes — raising concerns at the Vatican that the resolutions might challenge the Church’s teaching and discipline.
André Wichmann, from Bochum, in western Germany said June 9 that he and two others had submitted the dubium out of a “great concern about unity.”
In his letter to Pope Francis, Cardinal Marx said that the investigations and reports of abuse over the past 10 years consistently showed for him that there had been “many personal failures and administrative mistakes but also institutional or ‘systemic’ failure.”
Cardinal Ruini, who was Rome’s vicar general from 1991 to 2008, and president of the Italian bishops’ conference for 16 years, said that “people certainly can be blessed, but because they are converted, not because they are confirmed in their sin.”
Cardinal Pell’s comments come as members of the Church in Germany are planning on May 10 to hold a day of blessings for same-sex partners, despite the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.
COMMENTARY: In the late evening of his life, Ratzinger/Benedict can be understood as the Catholic Church’s singular, multi-generational response to the reforming agenda of German theology.
As the closely watched ‘Synodal Path’ in Germany moves forward, scholars in the U.S. say a bolder response from Rome is needed.
COMMENTARY: The Holy Father’s German gamble failed. He led with an open hand and got a clenched fist in return.
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