The Synodal Path, which began in December 2019 as an initiative of the DBK and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), a lobby of lay Church employees, has come under fire in recent weeks as supporters join efforts to change Church teaching and practice related to human sexuality, sacramental ordination, and Church governance.
In a letter of November 11 To four German lay women, who had written to the Holy Father to express their concerns about the Catholic Church in Germany, Pope Francis wrote that some in the local Church were taking “numerous steps,” including the work of the synodal committee, threatening “ with moving it further and further away from the common path of the universal Church.”
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, also informed the German bishops in a letter dated October 23 that changes to the Church’s teaching on same-sex sexual relations and male-only holy orders would not be on the table in meetings between Rome and Synodal Path delegates going forward.