Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Catholic News ServiceJanuary 06, 2022
Leaders of the second Synodal Assembly are pictured during its opening session in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 30, 2021. (CNS photo/Julia Steinbrecht, KNA)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A group of pilgrims presented Pope Francis with a “reform manifesto” critical of the German Synodal Path, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

On the sidelines of the pope’s Jan. 5 general audience, representatives of the “Neuer Anfang” (”New Beginning”) initiative handed him a pamphlet containing their own statements on themes that are also dealt with in the Synodal Path consultations, launched by the German bishops’ conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics.

A member of the group said they had handed the manifesto directly to the pope because its views had no chance of being accepted by Synodal Path members in Germany.

In their manifesto, they thanked the pope for initiating a world Synod of Bishops on synodality and said the “Synodal Path in Germany is getting out of hand.”

In their manifesto, they thanked the pope for initiating a world Synod of Bishops on synodality and said the “Synodal Path in Germany is getting out of hand.”

“The joy of the Gospel” appeared to be getting lost in the “bickering of politicized groups,” the text said.

The manifesto and a “Letter from the Pilgrim People of God to the Pope” stem from an initiative launched by Bernhard Meuser, a German publicist, and Martin Brüske, a theologian who teaches in Switzerland.

The “Faith Manifesto,” signed by around 6,000 people from Germany and other European countries, contains nine theses. They include the legitimacy of the Synodal Path, the unity of the church, power, women, marriage, laypeople and priests as well as abuse. The manifesto sharply criticizes the demands of the Synodal Path, which amount to a “self-secularization of the church,” as Meuser told KNA.

The “Faith Manifesto,” signed by around 6,000 people, sharply criticizes the demands of the Synodal Path, which amount to a “self-secularization of the church,” Bernhard Meuser said.

The manifesto contains a set of proposals: Any reform must take place in unity with the universal church; there must be no separate national paths; power in the church must serve and be legitimate and transparent.

“There is indeed also abuse of power in the church,” it says. However, it adds that it does not want “a church of officials and functionaries.”

The sacramentality of the church must be preserved, as must the difference between clergy and laypeople, the manifesto says. Women’s abilities must be more strongly recognized; however, their non-admission to the priesthood is not discrimination, it adds. It also supports the special status of traditional marriage as a sacrament and opposes the blessing of same-sex couples.

The latest from america

“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” Pope Francis wrote in a letter to the editor in chief of Corriere della Sera.
Gerard O’ConnellMarch 18, 2025
I am well aware of the dangers of “raising awareness” and making a show of one’s fasting. But I am telling people about this publicly so that they can consider whether Pepfar is something they would like to fast over.
Matthew LoftusMarch 18, 2025
Pat Conroy was the epitome of the "Southern Writer" for many years and called by some "the most beloved American writer of his generation"—and was also a God-haunted Catholic who wrote often and deeply about religious faith.
James T. KeaneMarch 18, 2025
The visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom to the Vatican next month will include an audience with Pope Francis, suggesting the pope's health is improving.
Gerard O’ConnellMarch 17, 2025