“We will not tire of emphasizing that the church in Germany will not follow a ‘German special path’,” said a joint statement by the Synodal Presidium, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference and ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp.

“It seems necessary to make it clear that the ‘Synodal Path’ in Germany does not have the power to compel bishops and the faithful to assume new modes of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morals,” the Vatican said.

The shift of power away from the hierarchy of bishops "will break the neck of the church," the cardinal said.

Many people who oppose the idea of women as deacons fear that the potential candidates aren’t faithful Catholics. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Having begun the process of synodality, we should not let the process go dormant until after the pope’s apostolic exhortation on the universal synod is released in 2024.

One year into a three-year global synodal process, we should not expect hot-button issues and their promoters to vanish, nor for public disagreements among Catholics to cease.