“The German synod has not taken any decision contrary to the doctrine of the magisterium”

Because of the criticisms it continues to face in the Vatican, the synodal path undertaken in Germany, on the other side of the Rhine, now enjoys a certain notoriety without the deep nature of this approach having really been deepened.

It would suffer for some from four serious imperfections: it would not be argued theologically, thus bordering on schism; it would be the work of an elite with little concern for the situation of the poorest; it would be a concession to the spirit of the times; it would have freed itself from the rules of law which prevail for the universal Church.

Solid theological foundations

As an observer invited from the outset to follow the debates and conclusions of the General Assembly along this synodal path, I cannot do less than express my astonishment at the lightness of such criticisms, doing little case of Pope Francis’ invitation to the local churches to show initiative in the face of the new conditions of evangelization.

No, the synodal path does not lack solid theological foundations on which a group of theologians from various disciplines, designated by the German bishops, have worked collectively. We will be able to realize this on reading the General Orientation Text which, to my knowledge, has not been the subject of dispute. No, the synodal path is not the work of an elite cut off from the poor. On the side of the laity, the representatives chosen by the ZdK, a representative body of the laity as a whole, are the same as those who have been engaged in the front line in the reception of refugees and migrants since 2015 and of whom we know that until today Germany has taken by far the largest share in Europe.

No, the synodal path is not an attempt to please the spirit of the times: I know from having attended the intense debates which have marked the question of the place of women or that of the consideration of gender diversity that what was at stake was not complacency, but inculturation: a challenge inherent in the very history of the Church in its permanent dialogue with the social sciences, a reciprocal confrontation which no doubt takes hold in Germany, marked by the Nazi abominations , a particular relief.

Trench warfare

No, the synodal path has not taken any decision contrary to the doctrine of the magisterium in force. As Dr. Angela Kaupp, a member of the group of theologians of the Plenary Assembly, has well expressed, questions have been put to the universal Church, they have not been settled (1).

Asking questions to the universal Church, perhaps this is the original fault of the synodal path? How else can we explain the trench warfare which certain Roman dicasteries seem to have engaged in against the application of practical decisions which nevertheless appeared to be the responsibility of a national Church?

For two months negative opinions have multiplied: against the consultation of the laity during the preparatory phase for the designation of a new bishop on the grounds that it would contravene a concordat (there are several in Germany); against the authorization of blessings given to homosexual couples, when Pope Francis himself admitted that this question was the responsibility of a national conference; against the establishment of diocesan lists defining the conditions for the participation of lay people in the commentary on the Gospel during the Eucharists.

This guerrilla warfare that we dare to describe as administrative is all the more surprising since Pope Francis is announcing today opening measures for the next World Synod: notable participation of lay people with the right to vote, study the issue of remarried divorcees in particular. Who would think that these are concessions to fads, when what is really at stake is to pursue an unfinished evolution since Vatican II?

Rather than rebel against Pope Francis, German Catholics prefer to think that he does not understand them and put their hopes in the debates of the next World Synod in Rome next October. In any event, they still have one immense consolation: that of having succeeded, thanks to an exceptional process of dialogue like that advocated by the Pope himself, in rediscovering their unity and their will to announce the Gospel.

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