Cardinal Marx deeply concerned about the rise of the right in Europe and a new EU asylum agreement. Demands Church changes doctrine.

"That scares me"

Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx has criticized European asylum policy. At the same time, he expressed concern about the shift to the right in Germany and Europe. With regard to the Church, he emphasized the need for doctrinal changes.

In an interview with the newspapers of the Bayern media group (Weekend), Cardinal Marx expressed his opposition to plans to examine asylum requests outside the EU's borders, for example in Tunisia: "You can't lock families up in a camp like that for two years. How can that be done? the school education for the children there? Who will take care of it?"

Marx emphasized: "This approach will cause lasting damage to Europe."

According to Cardinal Marx, Europe cannot stop immigration

The Archbishop said Germany needs regulated immigration. Without them, the health system cannot be maintained. “It is therefore necessary to get refugees into training and work as quickly as possible.”

Regarding the problem of migration pressure, Marx said: "As long as the gap between prosperity here and the situation in other poor countries is as large as it is now, the problem will never be solved."

The Europeans couldn't build a wall "and say you can't get in there."

Cardinal Marx does not understand Christian voters of right-wing parties

At the same time, Cardinal Marx looks “with great concern” at the political shift to the right in Germany and Europe.

“Parties are finding considerable support, many of which clearly represent right-wing extremist positions,” said Marx in an interview published at the weekend by the Bavarian media group newspapers. "That scares me."

Caritas sees the strengthening of the AfD as a threat to cohesion

The German Caritas Association sees the AfD's successes in the state elections in Hesse and Bavaria as a threat to democratic coexistence. The rise of the AfD is a horror, Caritas President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa told the Catholic News Agency (KNA).

The cardinal added that he did not understand "how a convinced Christian can vote for parties that are right-wing extremists, that spread nationalist, racist and inhumane slogans."

The future Bavarian government should not be driven by the AfD

Members of such parties could not exercise responsibility in the church.

The Munich Archbishop sent a warning to the future Bavarian state government: They should not allow themselves to be driven by the AfD if it spreads fear.

Other parties should not try to imitate the AfD in their choice of words and content in order to get votes. “A clear line must be drawn to the right.”

Church should expose right-wing “black and white painting and incitement”

Marx said that the Catholic Church is responding to the shift to the right in its own way: "By defending democracy, clearly opposing populists and extremists - and exposing their black-and-white painting and incitement."

This is exactly where the Competence Center for Democracy and Human Dignity, founded years ago by the Bavarian dioceses, comes into play.

In addition to his criticism of the EU asylum package and the shift to the right in Germany and Europe, Cardinal Marx also reiterated his support for certain demands for reform in the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Marx sees changes in doctrine as a necessity

"The position of women in the church, a sexual morality that many find incomprehensible, the question of controlling power - moving forward here is a prerequisite for gaining new momentum," said Marx in an interview with the media group published at the weekend Bavaria.

"We must bring about changes on issues that have damaged the credibility of the church."

This is not “a matter of simply adapting to the spirit of the times,” explained the Archbishop. "It's about finding a good and meaningful life now and today. It's important to understand the present."

Criticism of minority veto against financing of Synodal Council

The question arises as to whether the church is still in the middle of the world or has become an anachronism. "You have to find the turning moment so that people have the impression: We are the future and not the past."

With regard to the controversies in the German reform process Synodal Way, Marx appealed for serenity. "You have to live with the fact that not everyone agrees and find solutions."

But he also said that it could not be "that a minority can stop the whole path and make it impossible".

Cardinal Marx accuses bishops of lack of consultation with diocesan bodies He was alluding to the fact that four bishops question the continuation of the process and do not want to spend church tax money from their dioceses on it.

Marx said: "Every Bishop is free to do that in his diocese, but the Bishop is not the Diocese. You have to talk to the committees. That is, after all, the point of Synodal churches."

In any case, he himself felt obliged to do so for "certain important decisions".

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