(LifeSiteNews) — Theologians in Germany are demanding a change to the requirement that only those who adhere to Church doctrine may teach theology at a Catholic university.
The Association of Catholic Theological Faculties (Katholisch-Theologische Fakultätentag or KThF) is calling for a change to the current regulations on granting ecclesiastical teaching licenses.
Currently, the Vatican must grant theologians the so-called “nihil obstat” (Latin for “nothing hinders”), i.e., a decision that the person’s conduct has been in line with Catholic teaching, before they can teach theology at a Catholic university.
According to a study, some theologians felt the nihil obstat procedure restricted them in their academic work and said that it “is associated with fear and pressure.”
In a resolution passed on January 27, the KThF called on the German Bishops’ Conference to work towards ensuring that the nihil obstat procedure “is adapted to applicable fundamental and procedural law standards.”
According to the KThF, the right of the Church to intervene violates academic freedom and individual rights.
“This has concrete consequences, such as not conducting research on certain topics or keeping one’s own lifestyle secret,” the KThF stated. Because it is unclear when someone will receive a teaching license, couples’ decisions such as starting a family or planning a career together are put off, the organization claimed.
The association demanded that the bishops and the Vatican apply the heterodox labor law passed by the German bishops, which allows Church employees to openly live in same-sex relationships, to theologians at Catholic universities as well.
READ: German bishops adopt new labor law allowing Church employees to live in same-sex relationships
The KThF also claimed that the nihil obstat procedure is “discriminatory” because more women than men received queries or complaints.
Regina Elsner, a theologian from Münster who received the nihil obstat from the Vatican after a 13-month waiting period, said the process is an “abuse of power by the church.”
“It is the place where unpopular theologies are weeded out, highly qualified theologians are blackmailed, bishops can paralyze entire faculties at state universities, denunciation and arbitrariness flourish, and a dense network of sincere gratitude, enforced guilt, and dependencies ensure that no one talks about it,” Elsner said about the procedure.
Ecclesiastical university law stipulates that theology professors require a declaration of no objection from the Holy See before taking office. The competent authority in Rome is the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is also involved in the process.
In addition to the nihil obstat for professors, the Dicastery is also responsible for appointing or confirming the rectors of Catholic universities, the presidents of independent Catholic faculties, and the deans of Catholic faculties.
Recently, the case of moral theologian Martin Lintner caused outrage among modernist theologians in the German-speaking world because the Vatican did not grant him the nihil obstat necessary to become the dean of the Philosophical-Theological University of Brixen/Bressanone in South Tyrol due to his heterodox positions on sexual morality.
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A change to the nihil obstat rule could allow theologians who openly dissent from Catholic teaching or who live in objectively sinful, e.g., homosexual, relationships to become theology professors at Catholic universities and faculties.
According to Lintner, the Vatican is already considering changing the procedure so that the local bishop can decide on these matters.
“I was informed that the Vatican is seriously considering renewing the procedures for granting nihil obstat by giving more weight to the local bishop,” Lintner told the heterodox America magazine in September last year.