Oh what a circus, oh what a Synod. Papal appointees to the World Synod announced.

 Pope appoints Müller, Oster, Genn, Söding and Schwartz to World Synod

The German Bishops' Conference had already named Georg Bätzing, Bertram Meier and Franz-Josef Overbeck as participating bishops of the World Synod. Now the other participants from Germany and all over the world have also been determined.

Pope Francis has appointed the former head of the Vatican's faith authority, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, as a member of the world synod scheduled for October. This emerges from the list of names of synod members that the Vatican published on Friday. Müller's two successors, the Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria and the future Prefect of Faith Victor Fernandez, were also appointed members.

The Pope also appointed Bishops Felix Genn (Münster) and Stefan Oster (Passau) from Germany to the Synod, which is to discuss a fundamental reform of co-determination in the Catholic Church. The German Bishops' Conference (DBK) had named the chairmen Georg Bätzing (Limburg), Bertram Meier (Augsburg) and Franz-Josef Overbeck (Essen) as participating bishops. The German priest Thomas Schwartz also took part in the synod as chief executive of the Renovabis aid organization. The Secretary General of the Nordic Bishops' Conference (NBK), Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner, who comes from Germany, is also a participant.

The vice-president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), theology professor Thomas Söding, was appointed an official theological adviser to the synod. Myriam Wijlens, a Dutch canon lawyer who teaches in Erfurt, was also appointed as a consultant. Also the German Jesuit Christoph Theobald, who teaches in Paris. The Swiss Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler from the aid organization "Fastenaktion" is listed among the lay members of the synod with voting rights from German-speaking countries. In addition, the Apostolic Exarch for the Catholic Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in Germany and Scandinavia, Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, will take part in the World Synod. He is a member of the DBK.

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