Bishops must be "better integrated" into the People of God

More participation of lay people, better integration of bishops into the people of God: For this, according to Thomas Söding, a "gap in church law" must be filled. On Vatican stop signs, he says: "Now is not the time to issue bans."

Theologian Thomas Söding has called for changes to church law to allow more lay participation in internal church decision-making processes. The Synodal Way in Germany has made it clear that there is a "gap in canon law" that needs to be filled to better integrate bishops into the people of God, Söding told an international theological congress in Rome on Friday. Söding was a vice-president of the Synodal Path, which ended in March.

Church law does provide for regional church assemblies - so-called plenary and provincial councils, he continued. "What this model lacks, however, is shared responsibility for planning the agenda, organising consultations and decision-making," the Bochum theologian said.

Vatican interventions

Söding also addressed Vatican interventions against the Synodal Path such as the letter from Curia Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Marc Ouellet and Luis Ladaria. "Now is not the time to issue bans, but to seize opportunities," he stressed. The three cardinals had written on 16 January to say that the Catholic Church in Germany did not have the authority to set up a joint governing body of lay and clerical members. The letter had been expressly approved by Pope Francis.

The congress "Theology in the Challenge of Synodality" is taking place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome until noon on Saturday. Among the speakers are other theologians from universities in the German-speaking world. They include Margit Eckholt (Osnabrück), Myriam Wijlens (Erfurt), Michael Seewald (Münster) and Regina Polak (Vienna).

The congress was opened on Thursday with a lecture by Cardinal Mario Grech. Grech, who heads the Synod Secretariat in the Vatican newly established by Pope Francis, emphasised in his lecture that the current expansion of synodality is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Through more synodality, i.e. inner-church consultation on questions of Catholic doctrine and the constitution of the Church, the opposition between the local Church and the universal Church, which had been smouldering since the Council, could be overcome. 

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