Cardinal warns German Church about taking their own path rather than the Catholic path

The Archbishop of Stockholm, Anders Cardinal Arborelius OCD regrets that the Church in Germany has taken a special path with the decisions of the Synodal Path. However, he does not expect the German view to have much influence on the universal Church. In an interview with the Tagespost he said: "Even if the decisions of the Synodal Way are important for Germany - Germany is only a small part of the world church. Of course we will touch on these issues somehow, but the German view will not be as important as people in Germany might think. The German voice is not the most important of the universal church."

A minority in exile

The Cardinal does not rule out that the Synodal process of the universal Church will bring disappointments for the faithful in Germany. It could become "very embarrassing to see in Germany that the themes of the Synodal Way do not play as great a role in the universal Church as they do in the German local Church."

The Archbishop of Stockholm emphatically rejects the idea that majority decisions are identical with the voice of the Holy Spirit.

This is a non-biblical view. Literally, he explains, "The Bible refers to the small group of saints who keep the faith. The people of Israel in exile were a very small minority, but they kept the tradition. And even today, only the small minority in our countries have remained Christian. If our ties with the world and social structures become too close, there is a danger that we will also adopt the world's views. Democracy is good for the world, but in the church it is different. Truth, love, mercy and holiness apply there. Explaining this is a great task.

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