(LifeSiteNews) — A Dutch bishop has rebuked the heretical documents of the German Synodal Way, saying that the German bishops practice “intentional deception of the faithful” and have invented the “signs of the times” as “a new source of revelation.”
Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, auxiliary bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, said that the proponents of the Synodal Way contradict the teachings of the Second Vatican Council to which they claim to adhere.
“Those who wish to be faithful to the Vatican Council cannot at the same time profess the content of the (German) Synodal Way – the statements are mutually exclusive,” Mutsaerts wrote in a blog post.
The Dutch bishop said that “[t]he Synodal Way pursued by the German Catholic Church claims to build on the 2nd Vatican Council,” however, a closer “a closer look at the texts of the Synodal Way proves just the opposite.”
“For example, the document ‘The Celibacy of Priests’ states, ‘A superiority of the celibate form of life can no longer be responsibly advocated since Vatican II.’”
READ: German bishops vote 42-10 in favor of women deacons for entire Church
“Is that true?” Mutsaerts asked. “No. In fact, the Council says just the opposite, that candidates for the priesthood must ‘recognize, however, the surpassing excellence of virginity consecrated to Christ’ (Optatam Totius 10).”
“Is this a regrettable slip-up? By no means,” the Dutch bishop continued. “For example, the basic text ‘Priestly Existence Today’ asserts, ‘It is no accident that the Vatican II Priestly Decree consistently uses not the term priest (‘sacerdos‘) for the minister, but ‘presbyter’ (elder, proxy). This is confirmation of a change in the image of the priest by the Council, away from a sacred minister of worship to an official in the congregation.’”
“Again, none of this is true at all,” Mutsaerts posited. “For example, the decree [Presbyterorum Ordinis] no. 12 states, ‘every priest in his own fashion acts in place of Christ himself’. The Latin text does not use the term “presbyter,” as is claimed, but “sacerdos“! From the point of view of the Council, the term “presbyter” in no way replaces the term “sacerdos,” but is used in distinction from “episcopus,” both of which are part of the “sacerdotium” (cf. Presb. Ordinis 7).”
“The false and misleading appeal to the Second Vatican Council is deception; it is a deception of the faithful,” Mutsaerts stated. “For the priesthood, according to the teaching of the Council, is by no means merely a functional office of an ‘elder,’ but includes a sacerdotal understanding of the priest as the one who offers the Eucharistic sacrifice, as the Council teaches when it speaks of the ‘mystery of the Eucharistic sacrifice, in which the priests fulfill their principal task’ (PO 13); and again, the original speaks of the ‘sacerdotes.’”
“The fantasy council to which the German Synodals refer does not exist,” Mutsaerts wrote.
Furthermore, Mutsaerts stated that the documents of the Synodal Way contain “positions that generally contradict the Council, for example, when the Synodal Way establishes the new teaching: ‘Same-sex sexuality – even realized in sexual acts – is therefore not a sin separating from God, and it should not be judged as intrinsically evil’.”
READ: German Synodal Way approves text calling homosexual acts ‘not sinful’ and ‘not intrinsically evil’
“Vatican II nowhere mentions homosexuality, but only because it is clear to the Council that the ‘intimate union as the mutual giving of two persons’ (GS 48) is legitimate before God only in the marriage of a man and a woman,“ the Dutch bishop continued.
Mutsaerts said that the Synodal Way should be consistent, and not only demand changes to the Catechism, “but also some excerpts from Holy Scripture, the Word of God, to which the Catechism ultimately refers (Gen. 19:1-29; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-19; 1 Tim. 1:10).”
“In short, the German bishops – after all, they have given majority approval to the documents – know better than the sacred writers.”
READ: German bishops approve same-sex ‘blessings’ by 38 to 9 vote in contravention of Church teaching
“According to the teaching of the Council, divine revelation contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition is complete (cf. Dei Verbum 4, 7-10),” Mutsaerts continued. “The Synodal Way, on the other hand, declares that ‘in the faith of the believers the self-communication of God is constantly renewed’ (orientation text ‘On the Way’), inventing alongside Scripture and Tradition the ‘signs of the times’ as a new source of revelation.”
“The logical consequence of this view is that what yesterday was considered a sin (e.g. homosexual acts) may today be seen as a blessing; that doctrines which yesterday were claimed to be infallible are today considered discriminatory and therefore sinful (e.g. the exclusion of women from priestly ordination). However, such an understanding of permanent change in the content of the faith has nothing in common with the teachings of the Council, nor with divine revelation,” Mutsaerts said.
“What was once infallibly taught remains infallible and is not subject to the spirit of the age.”
“The Synodal Way has divided Catholics in Germany. We have a word for that: schism,” the Dutch bishop concluded.
READ: Cdl. Müller: German Synodal Way is ‘worse than schism’ and has abandoned ‘essence of Christianity’
During their latest assembly in March 2023, the members of the Synodal Way voted overwhelmingly in favor of heretical documents that call for women deacons, “blessings” of homosexual unions, as well as acceptance of gender ideology, including the possibility of “transsexual priests.”