DBK President Reinhard Cardinal Marx © Harald Oppitz (KNA)
Cardinal Marx sees the bishops' handling of sexual abuse ies as a major reason for the loss of trust in the Catholic Church. Youth synod offers chance to restore credibility.
Bishops and others in positions of responsibility have not always acted consistently, Munich Cardinal Marx said in a radio report in Bavarian Radio's "Zum Sonntag" series, according to his press office on Friday. The loss of credibility weighs particularly heavily on "dignitaries, on authorities, that is, those who are endowed with power to empower others".
Now it is up to those responsible for the church to listen again and to understand, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference continued.
Recognition was the only possibility for repentance
"I want to be measured by whether I really listen and understand, and whether my talk and my actions are consistent." At the same time, Marx stressed that in the realization that church officials squandered a large advance of trust in their handling of abuse, "also lies the only possibility for repentance".
It is important to recognize that there are no easy or immediate ways to regain this lost credibility, Marx said. "Now, however, it is our turn to make an advance ourselves and to trust that the faithful, indeed the whole of society, will accompany us critically."
Bishops must want to understand young people
At the same time, the Cardinal sees the current Youth Synod as an opportunity to regain credibility through listening and understanding. The bishops would have to want to understand the young people and look for answers together with them, for example with the questions and concerns about topics such as climate, war and flight, poverty and unemployment.
It is important to pay attention to the language. "Platitudes, phrases that talk, pious sayings are not convincing." Young people, moreover, usually have a keen sense "of whether someone is genuine, acts the way they talk, and is thus credible and worthy of their trust".