Germans March on Rome

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TRANSCRIPT

A German bishop says he wants to bring a controversial reform process to Rome.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of the diocese of Limburg is chairman of the German Bishops' Conference.

He said in a recent interview he is "very much in favor of transporting the knowledge and decisions that we collect in the Synodal Way — even regarding women and ministry — to Rome."

The Synodal Way is a series of meetings with leftist clergy and laity — in the name of reforming the Church — underway in Germany.

But many items of discussion in the Synodal Way contradict Catholic teaching, such as: ordaining women, approval of homosexuality and intercommunion between Protestants and Catholics.

Bishop Bätzing spoke in favor of Protestants and Catholics receiving each other's Communion, saying, "Christians can choose with good arguments and according to their own conscience to take part in the Eucharist or Communion of the other denomination."

According to Catholic teaching, only baptized Catholics living in a state of grace can receive Holy Communion — not Protestants. Catholics believe Christ is truly present in the Eucharist while Protestant Communion is just a symbol.

Despite warnings from the Vatican — and even fears of schism among faithful Catholics — the German Synodal Way is chugging along, essentially uninhibited.

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