The Most Powerful Church Outside Rome Is Fighting To Loosen Its Authority

Funeral procession of Cardinal Joachim Meisner in Cologne. Creative Commons image.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic Church in Germany has in recent decades made a name for itself as perhaps the most disruptive and iconoclastic national church in communion with the Pope of Rome.

It is also quite possibly the richest and most well-funded national church in the world. With a reported net worth of $3.82 billion dollars, the German church is worth more than the Vatican, at least in theory, which reports assets of approximately $3 billion.

This material wealth and expansive pool of resources make the German church a major consideration in church power and politics.

Now, the bishops of the German Catholic Church are dropping a massive, controversial document onto the Vatican’s lap that seeks to break away from Catholic doctrine in the realms of sexual morality, ordination of women and episcopal authority.

While the church is not advocating policies that might strike at its finances, it is now pushing a revamp of church structure that would release parts of episcopal control of the church nationwide.

Known for its liberal theology, the German Catholic Church has an extensive history since Vatican II of challenging and attempting to deviate from the established Catholic Catechism.

The Synodal Way, an episcopal committee convening a series of conferences aimed at implementing new forms of church governance, has released its “Fundamental Text” of recommendations and intentions for new church legislation.

The working group, headed by His Excellency Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck, will put their report and suggested policies to an official vote in the coming months in order to make it the official stance of the German church. The text has already been passed to voting members of the Synod for review.

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck. Creative Commons image.

“The Catholic Church is in a deep crisis. She can fulfill her mission only if she recognizes the character, causes and dimensions of this crisis, faces up to it and seriously works on solutions,” the text opens. “The crisis of the Church must be described in a larger context of social and cultural processes of change, but it cannot be limited to such general factors.”

One of the overriding themes of the new directions is an emphasis on democratization of power and a loosening of bishops’ authority:

“On the one hand, there are internal tensions between the Church’s doctrine and her practice. On the other hand, there is a gap between how power is actually conceived and exercised in the Church on the one hand, and the demands of the Gospel and the standards of a pluralistic, open society in a democratic constitutional state on the other.”

The Fundamental Text explicitly calls for a fundamental shift in decision-making and power towards the laity and hypothetical lay councils. 

“In the light of Holy Scripture and the Second Vatican Council, they can and should be put to the test anew. The sense of faith of the People of God calls for more shared responsibility, cooperative action, and enforceable rights of participation.”

The German bishops cite the sex abuse crisis and subsequent cover-ups worldwide as evidence of the danger in the traditional centralized power structure of the church. The bishops call for clergy to undergo a “self-examination” and “self-critical reflection.”

“Does this power of the Church really serve the proclamation of the Gospel and the people?,” the text asks. “Where does it become in-dependent? Where does it promote and where does it hinder experiences of the unlimited creative life power of God?”

The bishops propose an election process for the appointment of bishops, as well as a veto process for parishioners to override the clergy.

The Synodal Way also advocates for the ordination of women to the diaconate and leaves open the possibility of the priesthood, though both positions have been repeatedly ruled out for women. The priesthood specifically has had the door definitively closed by previous pontiffs and councils, most notable St. Pope John Paul II.

The committee contests St. Pope John Paul II’s decision to entirely rule out the ordination of women by citing “new insights into the witness of the Bible, into the developments of Tradition, and into the anthropology of gender,” adding that “the coherence of his argumentation and the validity of his statement are often questioned.”

The Vatican is now in the position of judging the new document and is expected to butt heads with the Germans in a fight for authority.

“The congregation has intervened before to remind the German bishops’ conference of the nature and limits of authentic synodality, in line with the Holy Father’s own letter on the matter,” an unnamed Vatican official told The Pillar.

Pope Francis is often seen as a liberalizing figure in the Church, breaking centuries-old norms and placing a direct emphasis on tearing down corruption and insider dealings within the hierarchy.

Pope Francis also made headlines recently for his appointment of a nun as under-secretary for the Synod of Bishops.

However, the pontiff has also been hardline on the topic of women in the priesthood and has had lukewarm enthusiasm for any investigations into the possibility of female diaconate.

The drastic changes recommended by the Synodal Way are sure to cause tension between the Vatican and the German Catholic Church. However, the methods through which these conflicts will be resolved and whether the Vatican will be forced to attempt to strong-man the titanic and wealthy German church is still yet to be seen.

“Dialogue is always preferable to confrontation. But authentic dialogue does not grant endless license to proceed on an independent path apart from the proper authority of the universal Church. In the Church, communion and hierarchy are inseparable supports to the Church’s mission,” the anonymous source continued.

The threat of a soft-schism divide between the Vatican and the German bishops is a threat that hangs over the discussions. With the resources and political power wielded by the German church, a political divide between the two institutions would not threaten the existence of the German church.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer and editor from northeastern Pennsylvania. He covers religious issues with a focus on the Catholic Church and Japanese society and culture.