Posted on 01/28/2024 1:14:41 PM PST by ebb tide
LIMBURG, Germany (LifeSiteNews) — A diocese in Germany led by the head of the nation’s bishops’ conference ordained zero priests for the first time in history in 2023.
The Diocese of Limburg in western Germany is led by Bishop Georg Bätzing, who has spearheaded the “Synodal Way” of the German bishops’ conference, and is known for his heretical stances on moral issues. He has called for a change to unchangeable Church teaching on homosexuality and female deacons, and has supported optional clerical celibacy.
Bätzing lamented the lack of ordinations in a September Die Zeit interview, saying, “What worries me is that almost nobody wants to become a priest, because there is no Catholic Church without priests.”
His diocese now embodies the “rock bottom” of a global trend of low ordinations that has hit Germany particularly hard. In 2021, 62 men were ordained to the priesthood in the country, and that number dipped to 45 ordinations in 2022. Ordination trends in Europe show that these are extraordinarily historic lows, and France’s plummeting ordination numbers are not far behind.
The traditional priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX)’s news outlet has remarked that Bätzing’s “astonishment and concern seem rather unreal,” because the present “revolutionary” climate in the Church in Germany cannot assure the recruitment of seminarians.
FSSPX News noted that the German Synodal Path has “denied several points of the Faith” and aims to impose “structures opposed to the divine constitution of the Church.”
The traditional Catholic outlet further pointed to a statement by Dr. Christof May, the Bätzing-appointed rector of the diocesan seminary, which appears to undermine the importance of the ordained priesthood.
“In my attentive interaction with people, I would like to promote the baptismal priestly vocation of the individual… to be a companion of the pilgrim people of God with the strengthening of the voluntary baptismal priesthood,” Dr. May said.
This attitude was echoed by German theology professor Thomas Laubach, who told the newspaper Sonntag in September, “The first Christians celebrated religious services in private in homes… They did not need a priest or an ecclesial community for their way of believing. Believers organize themselves.”
“Then why would the Church need priests?” commented FSSPX News. “The desertion of seminaries can be easily explained, and the synodal revolution will only make things worse.”
And Bergoglio and his puppet bishops seem unconcerned, more concerned wit
...And Bergoglio and his puppet bishops seem unconcerned, they’re more concerned with illegal invaders, the climate hoax, scamdemics and an empty Hell.
Orthodoxy begets vocations.
Heresy suppresses vocations.
And how many Imam?
Gee, I wonder why?
Once one accepts the hypothesis that Bergoglio is a saboteur working to destroy the Church from within, his obvious nsouciance regarding abysmal vocations and myriad other crises starts to make sense
Pope Gregory was concerned that the Patriarch of Constantinople, St. John the Faster, had accepted the title of Ecumenical (or Universal) Patriarch. He condemned any such title for the following reasons: First, anyone who would use such a title would have fallen into pride, equal to the anti-Christ. He wrote: “I say it without the least hesitation, whoever calls himself the universal bishop, or desires this title, is by his pride, the precursor of anti-Christ, because he thus attempts to raise himself above the others. The error into which he falls springs from pride equal to that of anti-Christ; for as that wicked one wished to be regarded as exalted above other men, like a god, so likewise whoever would call himself sole bishop exalteth himself above others.”
Second, St. Gregory believed that such a title would be perilous to the Church. “It cannot be denied that if any one bishop be called universal, all the Church crumbles if that universal one fall”
Pope Gregory still viewed himself - since he was the pope - as the leader of the Church: https://jameslikoudispage.com/Ecumenic/gregory.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.