Papal Dressing Down of the German Bishops: German Church Not the Most Progressive, But Most Desolate

Ad Limina Visit of the German Bishops with Pope
Francis

(Rome) In the Catholic Church there is a conflict over the demand to give  Communion to the divorced and remarried. There is also uncertainty about what Pope Francis will present in his Post-Synodal Exhortation. According to the published opinion of the secular media the "German group" has prevailed at the Synod of Bishops last October, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper. In their ad limina - Visit of November 20 Pope Francis, however, told the German bishops, however, that their church was not "the most progressive, but the most desolate," as the Vatican expert Sandro Magister reports.

The German bishops, received a stern dressing down by the Pope:

- He lamented the lack of a "Catholic profile" in charitable institutions and Catholic schools.

- He deplored the decline in Mass attendance and the disappearance of the Sacrament of Penance.

- He blamed that there are  "always new structures" created for fewer and fewer believers.

- He exhorted the bishops to be "teachers of the faith" who "pass it down and live it in the living community of the universal Church."

- He recalled that in the parishes "the valuable work by lay faithful are not a substitute for the priestly ministry or should this make it appear even as a mere option," because "there is no Eucharist without a priest".

- He called for the "unconditional protection of life  from the moment of conception until natural death" because "we can not compromise here without even we ourselves becoming guilty of participating in the throwaway culture".

Out of Control communion for divorced and remarried was not an issue

A single question was not addressed by Pope Francis, however said Master: "The communion for the divorced and remarried, which is  now is a common practice in Germany that is accepted de facto by many bishops and regardless of   what was said at the Synod of Bishops and without  waiting which operative decisions of the Pope touch on it, as it requires." 

Communion to the divorced and remarried is spreading rapidly in some areas "It's a phenomenon that is getting out of control," says Magister, "without Rome, which had instigated this process, issuing any statement." 

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: CR

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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