Death of supporter of the Filial Correction and teacher of Archbishop Gänswein

Winfried Aymans, canon lawyer and doctoral supervisor of Gänswein dead

He was one of the most distinguished representatives of his subject and took part in a "filial correction for the spread of heresies" (Correctio Filialis de haeresibus propagatis) is addressed to Pope Francis: now the Munich canon lawyer Winfried Aymans has died.

The Munich canon lawyer Winfried Aymans is dead. The theologian died on Sunday in Munich at the age of 87. This was announced at the Sankt Michael nursing home, where Aymans last lived. The canonist was one of the most distinguished representatives of his field.

The priest of the Archdiocese of Cologne taught canon law at several universities from 1971, first in Trier, then in Bonn, and from 1978 for 25 years in Munich, where he held the renowned chair of his teacher Klaus Mörsdorf. Born in Bonn, he was involved in the reform of the CIC, the Code of Canon Law, which replaced the 1917 version in 1983. For many years he was a member of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. Aymans published several standard works on canon law and is the doctoral supervisor of Archbishop Georg Gänswein. Until the end, the theologian took the floor in theological debates, be it in the dispute over the Synodal Path or the conduct of the office of Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.

In 2017, Aymans took part in a "rebuke for the spread of heresies" addressed to Pope Francis. In 2019, he raised objections to plans for new church courts in Germany. Bishops could only be held accountable by an episcopally staffed court, apart from the Pope himself. The establishment of such a court at the level of the bishops' conference "would probably be an excessive demand", he wrote in the "Tagespost".

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