Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver has again written to Bishop George Bätzing, the president of the German bishops’ conference, to caution against the dramatic changes suggested by the German “Synodal Path.” In his letter the American prelate writes that the German initiative “challenges, and in some instances repudiates, the deposit of faith.”

Archbishop Aquila was instrumental in the preparation of a fraternal correction of the German bishop, which dozens of other prelates have signed. He questioned the response that Bishop Bätzing had offered to that public rebuke:

The gist of your response seems to be that the German Church must adopt a new approach to the faith due to the past failure of German bishops to protect children. This is a very strange argument. Why must Catholic teaching on fundamental issues of doctrine and the moral life change because German bishops have failed to teach effectively and govern honestly?