Edit: Bishop Ackerman made controversial statements contrary to Catholic teaching and a surprising number of voices have been critical of him, but others are also critics of the critics, like the Old Liberal Bishop of Magdeburg.
Magdeburg (kath.net / CBA / red) The Magdeburg Catholic Bishop, Gerhard Feige on Thursday defended the controversial statements of Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier and criticized those bishops who he saw as publicly critical. "I think it is inappropriate, when bishops are manipulated by the media and turn against each other," Feige said to CBA. Several important German bishops had previously condemned Ackermann's remarks publicly.
Feige showed his solidarity with the Bishop of Trier and stressed that it was "about time to openly provide the unvarnished reality and to engage sensitively as well as to responsibly provide life-serving solutions in the spirit of Jesus Christ."
In view of the criticism leveled at Ackermann's theses, Feige said: "It does not help to always review only prohibitions or to present concerns.»
The bishops Konrad Zdarsa (Augsburg), Heinz Josef Algermissen (Fulda) and Wolfgang Ipolt (Görlitz) and the spokesman for the diocese of Eichstätt and Regensburg, apparently on behalf of their bishops, distanced themselves from the statements of the Trier bishop, to Catholic Internet newspaper "kath.net". Recently the Roman Curia Cardinal Brandmüller also leveled his criticism of the statements.
Bishop Feige's Contact
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