Bishops and theologians have reacted differently to the publication of the controversial handout as an orientation guide. While in Freiburg gratitude prevails, in Regensburg one still sees a need for discussion.
For Eichstatt Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke, the publication makes it clear "that we as bishops are not now quarreling and arguing". Instead, Hanke told the Catholic News Agency (KNA) on Wednesday, everyone is concerned with advancing ecumenism and caring for mixed-denomination couples.
He said the intention was to wrestle together for a path "on which we are certainly not all in unison".
Clarifying the concept of "grave need"
Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg sees further need for theological clarification in the German bishops' communion dispute. As a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, he wants to ask that body for an "in-depth investigation" into what is meant by a "grave emergency" in which church law allows non-Catholics to receive communion in individual cases, Voderholzer announced in an interview with the Catholic weekly newspaper "Die Tagespost" (Thursday) in Wurzburg.
In the Permanent Council of the Bishops' Conference, "the greatest possible unity was sought" and, after several hours of controversial debate, a brief declaration was unanimously adopted, the Regensburg bishop said.
The disputes of the past weeks, Voderholzer continued, had "shown that it is good for the unity of the church and the collegial cooperation also of the bishops if minorities are respected, competences are preserved and official channels are observed".
Importance of ecumenical togetherness emphasized
Archbishop Stephan Burger of Freiburg welcomed the recent declaration of the Permanent Council of the German Bishops' Conference on the pastoral handout. "I am very grateful for this statement because it once again clearly states the fundamental pastoral concern without ignoring the canonical and dogmatic components," Burger said.
"For we are concerned with very concrete help in individual cases, that is, with pastoral care in the true sense and thus precisely not with a special path within the universal Church," the archbishop explained further. In addition, the declaration also emphasizes the importance of ecumenical togetherness.
Cardinal Muller criticizes majority of German bishops
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller accuses the majority of the German Bishops' Conference and Cardinal Reinhard Marx as chairman of pandering to modernity. They see themselves "as trendsetters of the Catholic Church on the way to modernity," Muller said in an interview with the U.S. Internet portal "Catholic World Report".
These bishops wanted to reform all doctrines of faith that were contrary to contemporary social consensus. In order to achieve their goals, they were also willing to accept the division of the bishops' conference.
Among the concerns of these bishops was "the demand for Holy Communion also for people without the Catholic faith and also for those Catholics who are not in a state of sanctifying grace". Also on the agenda, Muller added, would be "a blessing for homosexual couples, intercommunion with Protestants, relativization of the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, the introduction of viri probati and thus the abolition of priestly celibacy, approval of sexual relations before and after marriage".
Believers who take Catholic teaching seriously are "branded as conservative and forced out of the Church and exposed to the defamation campaign of the liberal and anti-Catholic media.". For many bishops, the truth of revelation and the Catholic confession is "just another variable in inner-church power politics," the cardinal further criticized.
Some of the bishops. Muller said, citing individual agreements with Pope Francis and thinking that "his statements in interviews with journalists and public figures far removed from the Catholic Church offer justification even for 'watering down' defined, infallible truths of faith (= dogmas).". Here he sees "a blatant process of Protestantization".
Muller (70) was a member of the German Bishops' Conference from 2002 to 2012 as bishop of Regensburg. From 2012 to 2017, he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican.
Call for reflection instead of slowing down
The prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Luis Ladaria, did not want to reject the opening of communion in Germany for Protestant spouses, according to his own statement.
"It was not a thwarting but a call for reflection," he said, explaining his letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, according to the Internet portal "Vatican Insider" on Wednesday. Marx had received the letter in early June.
Formal compromise with face-saving
Catholic theologian Thomas Soding sees recent developments in the dispute over opening Catholic communion to Protestant spouses as a boost for ecumenism.
"Confessional couples now know that they are taken seriously by the church," he told the Evangelical Press Service (epd) on Wednesday. The Vatican and the German bishops had agreed on a "formal compromise" in which both sides could save face, explained the professor of New Testament at the Ruhr University in Bochum and advisor to the Faith Commission of the Bishops' Conference.
Bringing out of the light of illegality
The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) welcomed the publication of the text. She sees this as a continuation of the ecumenical spirit of the Reformation Year 2017 and a concretization of the voluntary commitments made by both churches on the occasion of the service of repentance and reconciliation in March 2017. By transferring responsibility to the local bishop, he said, the bishops' conference "found a way to bring what is in fact a widely established reality at the grassroots level out of the light of illegitimacy".
"One is inclined to speak of a small step in ecumenism, but a big step for the Catholic Church," the statement released in Hanover said. At the same time, he said, it should still be noted that Catholics, conversely, are still not allowed by their church to participate in Protestant communion. There is still a long way to go.