Seems the Catholic Church in Germany, as it pursues a “Synodal Path,” is being told to “shape up”….
HOLY SEE STATEMENT ON “SYNODAL PATH” IN GERMANY
Released today by the Holy See Press Office: “In order to protect the freedom of the people of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to specify that the “Synodal Path” in Germany has no power to oblige the Bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governing and new approaches to doctrine and moral.
“It would not be lawful, before an agreement is reached at the level of the universal Church, to initiate new official structures or doctrines in dioceses (as) that would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church. As the Holy Father recalled in the Letter to the People of God who are on their way in Germany: “The universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church, and if they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence the need to keep communion with the whole body of the Church always alive and effective “[1]. Therefore it is hoped that the proposals of the pathway of the particular Churches in Germany will converge on the synodal path that the universal Church is taking for a mutual enrichment and a witness of that unity with which the body of the Church manifests its fidelity to Christ the Lord.” [1] FRANCIS, Letter to the People of God who are on their way in Germany, 9 (Pope urges German Church to walk together, moved by the Spirit – Vatican News)
(FYI: BISHOPS WRITE OPEN LETTER TO GERMAN EPISCOPACY: April 2022: More than 70 bishops from around the world have released a “fraternal open letter” to Germany’s bishops warning that sweeping changes to Church teaching advocated by the ongoing process known as the “Synodal Path” may lead to schism. Bishops sign letter warning that Germany’s ‘Synodal Path’ could lead to schism | Catholic News Agency)
Joan's Rome 