Bishop Slaps Back

TRANSCRIPT

The head of Germany's bishops is responding to a warning sent last month by the head of Poland's bishops to prevent doctrinal confusion. But of course, as Church Militant's Kristine Christlieb tells us, the German bishops aren't listening.

Bishop Georg Bätzing is justifying German bishops' support of the ordination of women to the priesthood, married priests and sodomy. Bätzing uses a recent German sex abuse report to claim, "Only if we tackle the systemic causes of the unspeakable suffering brought on by representatives of the Church ... this is the only way we will gain new credibility and trust from the public and believers that we have lost."

Critics have noted the 2018 report excludes discussions on homosexual priest-abusers. "The report does not give the full picture and is not fully independent," revealed one researcher who refused to take part in the report.

In February, Polish archbishop Stanisław Gądecki wrote a letter to Bätzing. He warned Germany's ongoing Synodal Path "should not yield to the pressures of the world or to the patterns of the dominant culture, since this can lead to moral and spiritual corruption." He further advised German bishops to "avoid the repetition of worn-out slogans and standard demands such as the abolition of celibacy, the priesthood of women, Communion for the divorced and the blessing of same-sex unions."

But it's not just the Polish bishops who are worried. The Bishops' Conference of the Nordic Countries warned in a March 10 letter, "We can hardly expect a new fullness of Catholic vitality to follow from impoverishment of the content of our Faith."

Despite these admonitions, the German bishops are rushing headlong towards moral and doctrinal division.

Gądecki noted the German Church's importance in Europe, saying, "It will either radiate its faith or its unbelief to the entire continent."