German Catholic Bishops’ Leader Responds to Polish Archbishop’s ‘Synodal Way’ Criticisms

The National Catholic Register ^ | 3/24/22 | CNA

[marshmallow]

CNA Deutsch reported that excerpts from Bishop Bätzing’s letter to Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki were published on the German bishops’ conference website on March 24.

The chairman of Germany’s Catholic bishops’ conference has responded to a strongly worded critique of the “Synodal Way” by his Polish counterpart.

Bishop Georg Bätzing said in a March 16 letter that he sought “a real theological exchange” with Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki over the direction of the controversial multiyear process bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople.

CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that excerpts from Bishop Bätzing’s letter were published on the German bishops’ conference website on March 24.

The bishop of Limburg, in western Germany, was responding to an almost-3,000-word letter published on Feb. 22, in which Archbishop Gądecki questioned whether the “Synodal Way” was rooted in the Gospel.

“Faithful to the Church’s teaching, we should not yield to the pressures of the world or to the patterns of the dominant culture since this can lead to moral and spiritual corruption,” the archbishop of Poznań, in central Poland, wrote.

“Let us avoid the repetition of worn-out slogans, and standard demands such as the abolition of celibacy, the priesthood of women, communion for the divorced, and the blessing of same-sex unions.”

[ebb tide]

The 60-year-old bishop said that German Catholics were pursuing the “Synodal Way” as Pope Francis had asked them to in a 19-page letter in 2019. 

It's no wonder Bergoglio has not shut down the German schism; he's the one who encouraged it.