Ordination remains reserved for men and the Church’s teaching on homosexuality is non-negotiable, Parolin said. German Bishops’ Conference spokesman Matthias Kopp confirmed that the bishops received the letter from their Permanent Council earlier in the week.
In the letter dated October 25 addressed to the General Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Beate Gilles, cited by the newspaper, Parolin outlines red lines for future rounds of dialogue with the German bishops. Among other things, it emphasizes that the Vatican has no intention of negotiating the Church’s teaching on homosexuality or the letter “Ordinatio sacerdotalis”, with which Pope John Paul II confirmed the exclusion of women from priestly ordination in 1994.
Synodal path
In July, several heads of the highest Vatican authorities (dicasteries) met for the first time with representatives of the German bishops to discuss the process of reforming the “Synodal Path” of the Catholic Church in Germany. In October, German participants in the World Synod in the Vatican – Bishop Georg Bätzing, Bishop Felix Genn, Bishop Bertram Meier, Bishop Stefan Oster, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck – as well as General Secretary Gilles held another conversation with several heads of dioceses. These discussions are expected to continue next year.
The heads of the dicasteries for the doctrine of the faith, for the promotion of Christian unity, for bishops, for worship and sacramental order, as well as for legal texts want to meet with representatives of the German bishops in January, April and June 2024 and discuss what is happening in church doctrine and discipline is set in stone and what can be changed. The objective is to address topics such as the doctrine of the Church, the image of humanity, morals and liturgy and the relevant texts of the “Synodal Path”.
At the same time, the letter from Rome emphasizes that a synodal path is currently being followed at the level of the universal Church: “It is necessary, therefore, to respect this path of the universal Church and avoid the impression that parallel initiatives are underway that aim to achieve a “We are indifferent about being on the road together”.
Council Central Committee reacts calmly
The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) reacted calmly to Rome’s note on Friday. ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp told the general assembly in Berlin that there is currently a lot of dynamics in the Vatican – within the Curia and also between the Curia and the Pope. She recalled that in the period leading up to the World Synod, Parolin declared that women’s participation and right to vote were unthinkable and illegitimate because they contradicted canon law. “And what did our Pope do? Suddenly it was cool and possible to put it into practice,” said Stetter-Karp.
ZdK executive board member Thomas Söding assumes that there will be repeated attempts to “transmit partial truths taken out of context as definitive statements from Rome”. However, the lay committee will not be particularly impressed by this. He sees Parolin’s letter as a good sign “that obviously there is and should be a conversation process between Germany and Rome.”
Letter from the Pope with criticism
Pope Francis recently expressed criticism of church reforms in Germany in a personal letter to four German Catholics, including theologians Marianne Schlosser and Katharina Westerhorstmann, as well as religious philosopher Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz.
He shared the “concern about the numerous concrete steps that are now being taken and that large parts of this local Church threaten to move further and further away from the common path of the universal Church,” Francis wrote to the four women who in the spring began their work as delegates in the reform process of the “Synodal Path” “ended prematurely.