Cardinal Marx paid €14,000 a month

 “A salary of €14,000 a month”: Cardinal Marx at the heart of the salary scandal and the excesses of the German Church

Archbishop of Munich and Freising, head of one of the wealthiest dioceses in Europe, he now finds himself at the center of a twofold controversy, both financial and doctrinal.

In recent weeks, Cardinal Reinhard Marx has taken a further step by asking his priests to incorporate blessings for same-sex couples and divorced and remarried Catholics into their pastoral practice. This deliberate approach, in line with the German “synodal path,” is deeply fracturing the Church, with several dioceses refusing to follow this line. At the same time, the question of his standard of living is being raised with increasing insistence. To understand this reality, it's essential to remember a key element: in Germany, the Church is largely financed by church tax, the Kirchensteuer, which represents approximately 8 to 9% of income tax and is collected directly by the state.

This system provides the institution with billions of euros annually. It also creates a close structural relationship between the Church and public institutions, effectively placing its operations at the heart of a political and administrative environment on which it largely depends. Within this framework, bishops are paid according to pay scales similar to those of senior civil servants, with incomes comparable to those of regional political leaders, ranging from €10,000 to €18,000 per month, in addition to numerous material benefits. Cardinal Marx, due to the exceptional economic weight of his diocese, is regularly associated with the highest levels of this scale, earning "€14,000 per month," according to the German press. It should be noted that in 2023, the Archdiocese of Paderborn recorded a surplus of 77 million euros. Paderborn thus remains the wealthiest diocese in Germany.

But it is precisely this interplay between public funding, a pro-LGBT societal environment, and pastoral orientations that is fueling criticism today. The German Church operates within a society where issues related to sexuality, identity, and gay rights occupy a central place in political and cultural debate. In this context, some observers denounce a form of gradual submission. Cardinal Marx's decision to structure and generalize the blessing of couples who do not conform to traditional teaching appears as a symptom of this trend.

It would not only be a pastoral response, but also the expression of a growing alignment with the dominant norms of German society and, more broadly, of the West.

Added to this is the role of numerous influential actors—committees, foundations, and structures engaged in public debate—who contribute to shaping the climate in which the Church operates. Many speak of an “interdependence” between the LGBT lobby, a major source of funding, and the German Church. Cardinal Marx, for his part, defends a pastoral approach that he presents as open and inclusive, in the name of Pope Francis’s “todos, todos, todos” (everyone, everyone, everyone). But this stance is divisive and reveals a deep fracture within the Church.

Beyond his own person, it is an entire model that is being questioned today. A model in which the Church, heavily financed by a state-controlled tax system, operates within a structuring cultural and political environment, to the point of raising doubts about its ability to maintain full doctrinal independence.

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