Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France.
Summary
·
Some 200
delegates voted on 15 separate issues, among the most high-profile of which was
the overwhelming agreement to ordain women into the diaconate
Frankfurt. Germany's Catholic Church has ended a landmark renewal project by agreeing a slew of
reforms including blessing same-sex marriages and allowing female deacons, at the risk of angering the Vatican.Bishops, priests, nuns and lay
representatives of the Church gathered in Frankfurt from March 9-11 for the
last assembly of Germany's "Synodal Path", a process launched in 2019
in response to the clerical sex abuse scandal.
Some 200 delegates voted on 15
separate issues, among the most high-profile of which was the overwhelming
agreement to ordain women into the diaconate. Deacons can assist priests during
Mass, perform baptisms and bless marriages.
The final decision on whether to
allow female deacons remains with Pope Francis.
The delegates in Frankfurt did not
go so far as to vote in favour of female priests, a far more contentious issue.
The "Synodal Path"
participants also backed offering blessings for same-sex couples, in defiance
of the Vatican which considers homosexuality a sin.
Crucially, the measure was supported
by a majority of German bishops, who have the authority to perform the ceremonies
in their diocese without Vatican approval.
The result was welcomed by the head
of the German Bishops' Conference Georg Baetzing as a "very good"
outcome.
Blessings for same-sex relationships
are already offered in Germany by some Catholic priests, but the public show of
support is likely to encourage more such ceremonies.
'Can't stay the same'
The German reform drive, which has
included controversial discussions about priestly celibacy and changing the
decision-making structure in Church, has sparked deep tensions with Rome and
even triggered fears of a schism.
Baetzing played down those concerns
in Frankfurt.
"The Synodal Path neither leads
to a division nor is it the beginning of a national Church," he told
delegates.
Baetzing hopes the German proposals
will be incorporated in Pope Francis's global synod, which will see a
discussion about Church reforms in October.
Germany's Catholic Church remains
the country's largest religion, counting 21.6 million members in 2021.
But it has lost around three million
members over the last decade and struggled to recruit new priests, spurring
calls for modernisation and renewal.
Much of the exodus came in the wake
of revelations of child sex abuse by clergy, mirroring similar scandals around
the world.
A study commissioned by the German
Bishops' Conference and released in 2018 showed that 1,670 clergymen had committed
some type of sexual attack against 3,677 minors, mostly boys, between 1946 and
2014.
However, the authors said the actual
number of victims was almost certainly much higher.
The president of the lay-run Central
Council of German Catholics, Irme Stetter-Karp, said she had "wished for
more" change after the Frankfurt assembly.
"The Church cannot remain as it
is," said Stetter-Karp, also the co-president of the "Synodal
Path".
She praised the decision on female
deacons, as well as a proposal to ask Pope Francis to re-examine priestly
celibacy.
But she regretted that no progress
had been made on overhauling the power structure within Germany's Catholic
Church, given a lack of the required support from bishops.
"Anyone who takes the abuse
scandal seriously, must work on structural changes," she said.
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