“The Vatican statement is a slap in the face to me”

Not every believer is emotionally involved when the synodal path, the reform process of German Catholics, continues on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main. "In all humility, I see myself as part of the universal church," says former late-night talker and practicing Catholic Harald Schmidt. "If there's a bit of halligalli in the diaspora, then I can't dance along excitedly."

The decisive factor for him is: "What does the head say?" And it is the case that Pope Francis recently positioned himself with the statement that there is already a very good evangelical church in Germany, a second one is not necessary. "I actually thought it was a good punchline."

The chairwoman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Annette Kurschus, finds the Pope's statement "cynical". "I think that was meant more as a slap, that you don't want something like that in your own ranks now. You won't expect me to take that as praise for the evangelicals."

For those who, even after the Pope's statement, were still under the illusion that the German reform process could at least be followed with a certain degree of openness from the highest level, a few weeks later the Vatican issued a written clarification that could not be desired in terms of clarity left: According to this, the Germans are "not authorized" to change anything in the management structures or even in the Catholic teaching.

For some, this absolutist word of power from Rome was the straw that broke the camel's back. Petra Drönner, a Cologne Catholic who had been loyal to that point, therefore left the church. "I've had enough now," she says of the step, which was anything but easy for her. But: "For me, the statement by the Vatican is a slap in the face for all committed laypeople who have been working in their parishes for years or even decades." but perceived in Rome.”

However, this is not to be expected. If you talk to a Roman cardinal like the former prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, you tend to get the impression that they have long since written off the German national church.

Opinion polls consistently show that a large majority of both German Catholics and Germans in general are in favor of far-reaching reforms in the Church. These are precisely the aims of the Synodal Path process, which has been running since 2019. It deals with four areas: dealing with power, the position of women, sexual morality and the compulsory celibacy of priests.

Despite the ban from Rome, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, and the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, want to continue the synodal path as planned. The reformers are counting on the fact that they can implement some innovations - such as the desired right for believers to have a say in the election of bishops or the blessing for same-sex couples - without the approval of Rome.

Bätzing parried the criticism from the Vatican on Sunday in a sermon in Essen. Probably with a view to Cardinal Müller, who said in a dpa interview that the church had no authority to change the order founded by Jesus, he said: “How come clever minds nowadays make the completely unhistorical claim that the church has none Authority to change their teaching in dealing with contemporary culture and its influences, because this means unfaithfulness to Christ and his gospel? I have a decidedly different opinion – not least in view of our struggle for changes in the synodal path.”

What is currently being attempted in Germany is not “cheap zeitgeist that is repeatedly and defamatory assumed”. "It has been the consistent path of the Church since its beginnings." The German Catholics were only trying to counter the "blatant loss of face" that the Church had suffered in recent years with something positive.