As the plenary assembly of the Synodal Path got underway in Frankfurt last week, with a debate on sexual morality – amid warnings from the Vatican – progressives failed to pass a document updating teaching on sexual ethics, with Living in succeeding relationships rejected, but only just. While over two-thirds of participants voted to adopt the text, and while a majority of bishops voted to adopt it as well, as the synod required a two-thirds majority of bishops to pass, the measure ultimately failed. Still, that a majority backed the measure at all will ring alarm bells in Rome. It is still possible the text is brought to Pope Francis directly in January, according to Bishop Georg Bätzing. The bishop – who is Chairman of Germany’s Bishops’ Conference – also said he would seek to implement the text in his own diocese. 

Meanwhile, the Path continued. In addition to debating Priestly existence today and the creation of a permanent council, one especially significant text – Women in ministries and offices in the Church – was approved 182 to 16 (with 7 abstentions). While not advocating directly for women priests, the text claims that “for generations, many women have known that they were called by God to be deaconesses or priestesses.” It proposes that “in future, it should no longer be gender that decides on the allocation of ministries, but the vocation, abilities, and skills that serve the proclamation of the Gospel in our time.” A majority of bishops backed the text. Participants also approved A re-evaluation of homosexuality in the Magisterium 170 to 14 (with 9 abstentions), with bishops again in support. The text essentially calls for an apology from the Church. 

Some of the texts under consideration can be adopted without the Vatican’s approval, while others will require consent. The Synodal Path, of course, points to growing division also among European Catholics, who appear to be mirroring trends in their own wider societies. Despite seeing a constituency for a progressive Catholicism in Germany, there has been significant domestic pushback to the Path. Cardinal Walter Kasper – former President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity – claimed the Synodal Path is ignoring the Pope, and if it continues to ignore his concerns, could “break the German Synodal Path’s neck”. 

In essence, the Synodal Path is a series of conferences of the German Church to discuss theological and organisational questions, and is divided into forums on separation of powers; succeeding relationships; priestly existence, and the role of women. A majority at a conference in February endorsed women’s ordination, same-sex partnerships getting a public blessing, reforming teachings on sexual ethics, and allowing married priests. The Synodal Assembly has signalled its intent to challenge Church doctrine and discipline, and vowed to issue binding teaching on a range of matters. 

Pope Francis wrote a letter to German Catholics in 2019 objecting to the course of action. However, in 2021, a “Fundamental Text” asserted that “there is no one truth of the religious, moral, and political world, and no one form of thought that can lay claim to ultimate authority.” In the meantime, the German Church has suffered significant decline, with hundreds of thousands of members resigning. According to the German Bishops’ Conference, at least 359,000 Catholics left the Church in 2021, a jump from 221,390 in 2020. 

A liberal turn, however, has hardly helped mainline Protestantism, which has collapsed across northern Europe, North America and Australia. Meanwhile, more orthodox forms of Christianity – traditional Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelical Protestantism – have stood firm. The Synodal Path appears to have made a breakthrough, albeit one likely to put German progressives on a collision course with Rome. This will be a tricky balancing act for a Pope who has sought to be inclusive yet knows that acquiescing to the Path could open a can of worms, with the threat of schism in the air. The Synodal Path has won this battle perhaps, but can it win the wider war?

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