Synodal mendacity from beginning to end

The resignation of Bishop Bode illustrates the living lie of the Synodal Way. For it never touched the core of the problem.

Bishop Bode was the number 2 bishop in the Synodal process

They carry on regardless of his disgrace

The resignation of Osnabrück Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, accepted by Pope Francis, once again makes clear what the life lie of the Synodal Way was. Bode does not have to take responsibility for the fact that the Diocese of Osnabrück or the Church as a whole have shown "systemic errors". But for the fact that he personally and completely without empathy for the victims took abuse crimes so lightly that the hair of those affected stood on end.

The Synodal Path always remained on the surface

Anyone who has suffered rape at the hands of a cleric will always testify later that they were abused by priest XY or person N. N.. Not by a church with "systemic flaws". If the "decisions" of the Synodal Path, which Bode describes as "historical", had been common practice earlier, if lay people had preached and administered sacraments in the Osnabrück diocese, if same-sex couples had received the Church's blessing and if Synodal Councils had dominated the life of parishes, the abuse crimes would have happened in exactly the same way and Bishop Bode would have acted just as negligently.

This was not a heroic resignation in Osnabrück

The Synodal Way always remained on the surface. It never even scratched the core of the problem, the loss of faith in the risen Lord present in the Eucharist. The Synodal Path was always only about the redistribution of a power that should not even exist in the Church, since it only knows powers.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx had already offered the Pope his resignation in order to take responsibility for the "systemic errors" of the Church. Francis has rarely rejected an offer of resignation as quickly as he did then (while he has now kept Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki in the dark about his future for over a year), because guilt can only ever be personal. By falling for this misconstruction of the Synodal Path, the majority of the German bishops have nurtured a monster that will certainly not bring blessings. Not a single person has returned to the Church because of the Synodal Way.

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