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[Catholic Caucus] German bishops’ leader: Lay homilies still on the agendaThe chairman of Germany’s bishops’ conference insisted Monday that the Vatican’s objection to a “synodal way” resolution calling for lay preaching at Masses is not the final word on the matter.Bishop Georg Bätzing speaks at the synodal way’s closing service at Frankfurt Cathedral, Germany, March 11, 2023. © Synodaler Weg/Maximilian von Lachner.Bishop Georg Bätzing suggested in a May 22 interview that a letter he received in March from Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, did not represent a definitive Vatican rejection of homilies by laymen...

[Catholic Caucus] Germany’s Synodal Way Is a “Source of Hope” for Transgender Catholics, Writes DelegateToday’s post comes from guest contributor Mara Klein. Mara was a nonbinary, young adult delegate to the Synodal Way in Germany, a process which was quite LGBTQ-positive. They participated in the working group on sexuality and relationships, and were recently elected to the permanent Synodal Committee in Germany. Mara previously wrote for Bondings 2.0 about their experience of the Synodal Way, available here, as well as spoke during a New Ways Ministry panel on LGBTQ+ issues and synodality, available here. To learn more about the German...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis On German Schism, "Dialogue Is Very Important"Bishop Michael Gerber of Fulda, Germany, wrote on Diocese-Fulda.de after a April 17 meeting with Francis that the conversation, which lasted more than thirty minutes, was marked by "understanding, dialogue and trusting exchange" and "without time pressure".Given the tensions with the bishops of the German Synod Church, "dialogue" was very important to Francis, he said. The topics discussed were Fulda diocese, the German Synod Church and the universal Church.The audience was granted at short notice. Gerber is in Rome for talks on priestly formation. Francis only engages in "dialogue" with enemies...

[Catholic Caucus] No more snooping into the private lives of religious education teachers Catholic religious education teachers still have to fear for their jobs if they come out as members of the LGBTI community. Even remarriage after divorce can cost them their job. This is to change in future, as the German Bishops' Conference announced last Tuesday.Already at the end of January, the Permanent Council of the Bishops' Conference had adopted the new "Model Regulations for the Granting of the Missio canonica". This guideline determines under which conditions teachers may give Catholic religious instruction at schools. According to the...

An influx of migrants into a region of Germany has left many locals struggling to find adequate housing, a number of area-mayors have claimed. Senior officials from the Main-Taunus district in Germany, including mayors, district council heads and the region’s District Administrator, Michael Cyriax, have claimed that an influx of migrants has made it very difficult for local people to acquire adequate housing. The officials aired their complaints in a letter sent to Germany’s federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, demanding that their national leaders take action to control the levels of immigration into the country.

In New Book, the Late Benedict XVI Defends Christianity Against Claims of IntoleranceIn a new book published in Italy, the late pontiff warns of ‘the distortion of the sexes by gender ideology’ in the name of tolerance.Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has posthumously defended Christianity against claims of intolerance “in the name of tolerance.”In a new book published in Italy, the late pontiff warns of a “radical manipulation of human beings” and “the distortion of the sexes by gender ideology” in the name of tolerance.Rejecting the argument of a German theologian about monotheism being linked to intolerance, Benedict counters that...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop announces new guidelines forcing priests to accept homosexuality, transgenderismMathias von Gersdorff, head of the German office of the traditional Catholic organization TFP, wrote on Twitter that '(Bishop Georg) Bätzing breaks definitively with Catholic morals and FORCES also pastors, diocesan institutions to do it.'LIMBURG, Germany (LifeSiteNews) — The head of the German bishops’ Conference (DBK) introduced binding guidelines on sexual education for all parishes in his diocese that force them to accept and promote homosexuality and transgenderism.According to these 10 guidelines, “there is diversity in sexual identity and orientation.” The guidelines furthermore state the following:The appreciative handling...

[Catholic Caucus] German Bishop: Hardly Any Resistance in Rome to the German SynodThe German state bishops experienced "resistance" only from a part of the Roman Curia during their November 2022 Ad Limina visit according to Aachen State Bishop Helmut Dieser (Domradio.de, 12 January).The Roman interlocutors were mostly "rather silent" in conflict talks where the bishops stressed that all the topics of the German Synod are also contained in Francis' Synod.Dieser mystified that the opponents of a "change" [= decadence] are "vocal," "well connected," and "highly aggressive" - a classic case of psychological mirroring of somebody who knows the highly aggressive...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Stokes Up German Bishops’ RebellionDefiant prelates tell Vatican they 'want to be Catholics in another way'VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Defiant German bishops claim that Pope Francis is backing them in their rebellion against Church teaching on homosexuality, women's ordination and the abolition of priestly celibacy. A pastoral worker blesses a homosexual couple in Germany "The Holy Father made it clear to us that tension is necessary," Bp. Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops' Conference, told reporters in Rome on Saturday at the conclusion of the prelates' ad limina visit to the Vatican. "The audience with Pope...

[Catholic Caucus] German Synodal Way proceeds after bishops ‘encouraged’ by meeting with Pope FrancisGermany's Bishops Conference looks set to continue the controversial, and heterodox Synodal Way, following its much anticipated series of meetings with the Pope and Vatican officials last week.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The president of the German Bishops’ Conference told reporters on Saturday that he was “encouraged” by their meeting with Pope Francis, adding that Germany’s Synodal Way wants “to be Catholic differently.” The German bishops refused a request from the Vatican to place a temporary “moratorium” on their national Synodal Way, and also took renewed aim at...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop: Homosexual ‘attraction’ and ‘lovemaking’ not an ‘aberration’'We cannot give homosexual people the answer that their feelings are unnatural and that they must therefore live celibate lives. As a Church, we have to answer these questions in a new way,' said Bishop Helmut Dieser.(LifeSiteNews) — A German bishop has declared that sexual diversity is “willed by God and does not violate the Creator’s will,” and that “homosexual lovemaking” is not an aberration but a “variant of human sexuality.” Helmut Dieser, the bishop of the diocese of Aachen and the head of the Forum for Sexuality and Partnership...

“Church” without sacraments and priests? On the desacerdotalization of the German Church The following article by Michael Charlier appeared in German at his website on November 3, 2022. It is translated for Rorate Caeli.The diocese of Mainz has published by circular letter the liturgical form for a "death blessing," which would be able to be given by lay people. It is apparently intended to replace the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick/Last Rites, which has been completely abandoned in many places and the administration of which is reserved to the ordained priest. After kath.net published a theological critique...

Marx: For Francis, the Erring German Bishops Are “Not" on the Wrong PathBasically, Francis has not said "anything" against the Synodal Way, remarked Munich Cardinal Marx (Welt.de, 16 October).In Francis' view, the German bishops are "not" on the wrong path. Commenting on Francis' statement that there was already "a very good Protestant Church" in Germany and that there was "no need for two of them", Marx said: "It would be news to me that he would have that impression of the German Church."What Francis has said at the margins is not Marx's "point of reference," in order to understand his...

[Catholic Caucus] Definition of a Liar: "What Was False Yesterday Can Be True Today" - Presiding BishopIt is human nature to seek continuity but the shortest definition of religion is "interruption".This nonsense was uttered by presiding Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg in a September 27 sermon to the German Bishops' Conference. Strangely, no one laughed. At the same time, he knocked Ratzinger's hermeneutics of continuity into the dustbin. According to Thomas Aquinas, religion consists in giving God the worship that is due to him, the source of all being.For the confused bishop, "all-too-certainly asserted continuities, i.e. seamless connections along the...

[Catholic Caucus] German Synodal Way approves text calling homosexual acts ‘not sinful’ and ‘not intrinsically evil’The eight orthodox bishops who voted against the document were Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and Bishops Gregor Maria Hanke, Matthias Heinrich, Stefan Oster, Dominikus Schwaderlapp, Rolf Steinhäuser, Rudolf Vorderholzer, and Florian Wörner.FRANKFURT AM MAIN (LifeSiteNews) – At the fourth Assembly of the German Synodal Way, a large majority of the bishops and laity present voted to approve a text that demands the Church change her teaching on homosexuality. Entitled “Magisterial reassessment of Homosexuality,” the document includes the following statement: “Same-sex sexuality – also realized in...

‘Treason’: German Synodal Path furious after bishops block document on changing Church teachingCardinal Reinhard Marx, the former head of the German bishops and a member of the Pope's Council of Cardinals, said he was 'very disappointed' by this voting result.FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN, Germany (LifeSiteNews) — Following a setback, progressivists dominating the German Synodal Path are shocked, speak of “disaster” and “treason,” and bemoan that some bishops are “secret blockers” who “do not say openly what they think.”Yesterday, on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, the entire Catholic world was surprised when, during the fourth Synodal Path assembly, 21 German bishops...

[Catholic Caucus] Official: German Synod Adopts Resolution For [Invalid] Women Priests82% of bishops and 92% of the handpicked German Synod’s delegates voted on September 9 in favour a resolution against the “exclusion of women from the sacramental ministry” (182 in favour, 16 against, 7 abstentions).Only 10 bishops voted against it (45 bishops in favour, 5 abstentions). Approval rates of around 90% are typical for totalitarian regimes. "Dangerous passages" (Aachen Bishop Dieser) of the document which could have jeopardised the final vote, were changed during the dayThis trick was necessary to avoid another embarrassing rejection as happened the day before with...

German ‘synodal way’ presses on with votes after day of dramaThe initiative was plunged into crisis after a text on sexual ethics failed to win a two-thirds majority among bishops.Members of the German “synodal way” pressed ahead with their voting program on Friday following a day of drama in Frankfurt.The initiative’s plenary assembly failed to pass on Thursday a text calling for a change in the Church’s approach to sexual ethics, after the resolution was unable to gain enough support from bishops. After the vote was announced, there was a protest and some participants left the meeting. Irme Stetter-Karp, president...

Watch the German delegation’s response at UNGA when Trump says “Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course.”

BERLIN: Germany has deployed troops with the European Union's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia for the first time in a decade as concerns mount instability from the Ukraine war could spread to the Western Balkans. On Tuesday, the first German troops to return to the country were greeted in a ceremony at the Sarajevo headquarters of the EUFOR force that marked the start of their mission, a German military spokesman said. Germany will deploy some 30 troops in total to Bosnia by mid-September, returning to the force that it had left at the end of 2012. Bosnia is hundreds of miles...