Even before the actual start of the reform project of the Catholic Church in Germany, dissonances are sounding. The Vatican rumbles in the background. How about a harmonious way of the German bishops towards the future?
Interviewer: The big question is what the reform path should look like. There are different ideas on this. A draft of the German Bishops' Conference has now caused criticism in the Vatican. Decision-making powers would be exceeded, they said. So the Vatican criticizes the German bishops. Rightly so?
Ludwig Ring-Eifel (Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic News Agency / KNA): I do think that some things in the draft that the majority of the bishops have adopted are worthy of criticism. Because in purely formal terms, some things do not meet the requirements of canon law for a synod. They talk their way out of it a bit and say it's just a "synodal way" and not a real synod.
But the responsible authorities in the Vatican point out that it is basically a synod – even if it is not called so. And if it is a synod, then one must adhere to certain legal regulations, which are precisely defined in canon law. That is something that would ultimately still have to be clarified. Is it a synod? Yes or No? But if it is a synod, then the Vatican criticism is quite justified.
Interviewer: The German bishops do not agree among themselves either. There is a second draft reform, but it has been rejected by a majority of the Bishops' Conference. What is this second draft?
Ring-Eifel: There is a draft which is supported above all by the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki, and the Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer. In terms of canon law, this is more like the draft of a real synod and also adheres to the legal requirements. In this respect, this draft should also meet with some favor in Rome.
However, he spares the very hot irons quite consistently. The draft is neither about the women's question, nor about celibacy or the question of power distribution. The first draft, on the other hand, has the merit of really addressing the hot potato and not beating around the bush. Perhaps it could ultimately come to a kind of mixture of the two drafts.
Interviewer: What does the draft of Cardinal Woelki and Bishop Voderholzer say?? What do the?
Ring-Eifel: They want to attack centrally the current crisis of faith and the crisis of the Church in proclamation, which is indeed understood as a crisis by both sides, and not to overlap it with the questions of women's ordination, celibacy and sexuality. From their point of view these are rather secondary problems.
You want to deal with the crisis of faith and the question of how to proclaim the Gospel anew in today's society.
Interviewer: Are Cardinal Marx and the majority of the Catholic bishops in Germany on one side and Cardinal Woelki, Bishop Voderholzer and also the large part of the Vatican, which sees the unity of the church endangered, on the other side?? Can you summarize it like this?
Ring-Eifel: It is not that Cardinal Marx and the majority of the bishops behind him do not want the unity of the church or that they do not care about the unity of the church. It's rather that they want to go a different way. They really want to discuss freely, and perhaps they also want to arrive at positions that have not yet been provided for in canon law and dogmatics.
You then want to use these results to trigger a process of change throughout the church. They are not interested in dividing the church, but in advancing the entire church and not in taking a special German path with these reforms.
Interviewer: Is there a fundamentally different understanding of the church, or not??
Ring-Eifel: It is not a different understanding of the church. What distinguishes the two drafts is how important one takes the current canon law and the current dogmatics. Do they accept this as something that can never be changed or is there a possibility through such a reform meeting to bring about changes to church law and dogma at some point in time. This approach is followed by the majority of the bishops.
Interviewer: How irreconcilable would you consider this current situation to be. Is there now a threat of a division of the church??
Ring-Eifel: I don't think this is going to cause a church split. My prediction is more that we will see something similar to what happened in the Netherlands in the 1970s. There was also a reform synod there in 1970. At that time, the abolition of celibacy and the release of contraceptives as well as other hot potatoes were demanded. They decided all that with a 90 percent majority in the modern sense. But Rome did not accept that.
In the end, the Catholic Church in the Netherlands gradually disappeared into insignificance, because it was not possible to reconcile the Roman line with this reform line. Something similar could also happen here.
Interviewer: A case from history, which could possibly also find attention at the autumn plenary assembly of the bishops, which begins in a week. Things could perhaps get quite robust there, or?
Ring-Eifel: That may be so. By the way, this was also the case in Holland at that time. The leading Cardinal Alfrink has also argued this very vehemently in Rome. In this respect, it is perhaps a bit comparable to how Cardinal Marx is now appearing. In Fulda it will also be robust. One can ame that. But we are still in the phase of an open and hard-fought, but fair debate.
The interview was conducted by Uta Vorbrodt.