(LifeSiteNews) — The German Bishops Conference (DBK) has adopted the statutes for the “Synodal Conference,” which plans to give Church authority to Catholic laity.
The DBK announced on Tuesday that it adopted the text at its spring plenary assembly. The Synodal Conference was conceived as a continuation of the heretical Synodal Way that seeks to change Church doctrine. In the conference, bishops, other clergy, and laity will discuss and decide on ecclesiastical matters together. According to its statutes, the Synodal Conference will consist of the 27 diocesan bishops of Germany, 27 lay members of the Central Committee for German Catholics (ZdK), and 27 other Catholics (potentially clergy or laity) voted for by the Synodal Assembly.
This structure, which grants the laity authority in ecclesiastical matters, clearly violates the hierarchical and sacramental nature of the Catholic Church. Some faithful Catholic bishops, like Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer, have therefore decided not participate in the Synodal Assemblies anymore.
The DBK will now send the text for the establishment of the Synodal Conference to the Vatican for approval.
While the Holy See under Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV has expressed its concern regarding the developments of the German Synodal Way, the Vatican has never formally demanded that the heterodox process stop, despite its radical proposals on changing Church doctrine about sexual morals and Holy Orders.
CNA Deutsch notes that the Vatican has put itself in difficult position: “Now, the solution to the German question is either to approve the statutes, which would make all previous Vatican criticism appear insubstantial, or to reject the statutes, which would give the impression that the Vatican only takes action when the power of the bishops is at stake, but not before, when central points of Catholic doctrine are called into question – for example, in matters of women’s ordination, but also with regard to homosexual activity.”
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