Synodal Path resolutions lack legal force according to German Bishop

Voderholzer reiterates reservations about new governing bodies

Questions will not be discussed through the media

Regensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer has reiterated his reservations about new church governing bodies in Germany. This is Voderholzer's reaction to resolutions of the Synodal Way.

The resolutions passed in the Synodal Path reform project have no legal force, according to a letter from the bishop to the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, and the President of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing. The letter, which was also sent to all other bishops in Germany, is dated 5 April and is available to the Catholic News Agency (KNA). It was first reported in "Die Tagespost".

Voderholzer was reacting to the announcement that a Synodal Committee decided by the Synodal Assembly would be constituted on 10 November in Essen. This would publicly create facts that he could not endorse, the Regensburg bishop said.

Bishops to vote separately

Voderholzer insists that the next plenary assembly of the German bishops must first deal with the project and vote on it separately. The fact that a two-thirds majority of the bishops present at the synodal assembly had already voted in favour of the text could not be considered a substitute. It has also not yet been clarified how the work of the new body will be financed.

According to the letter, it is planned that the German diocesan bishops will release budgetary resources from their common fund VDD for this purpose at their next Permanent Council on 24 April. A spokesperson for the German Bishops' Conference explained in response to a KNA enquiry "that we do not discuss the questions posed by Bishop Voderholzer via the media".

Among other things, the Synodal Committee is to prepare the establishment of a Synodal Council. In this new body, bishops and Catholic laity want to continue their consultations on church life after the conclusion of the Synodal Path. It is still unclear how binding any decisions might be. In the meantime, the Vatican has stated that the Catholic Church in Germany is not authorised to set up such a joint governing body of laity and clergy. Voderholzer also rejects such a project.

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