Valentina de Giorgio

(ZENIT News / Rome, 05.10.2022).- On Tuesday, October 4, a confidential meeting took place in Rome between Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and Bishop Georg Bätzing, President of the German Episcopal Conference. 

The reason for the meeting was Cardinal Koch’s critical statements to the newspaper Die Tagespost on September 29, 2022, about the German Synodal Path. According to a press release of the German Episcopal Conference, “In the conversation Cardinal Koch and Bishop Bätzing exchanged their positions. Cardinal Koch assured Monsignor Bätzing in a credible way  that he was not referring expressly to the Synodal Path of the Church in Germany or to the Synodal Assembly, comparing the theological debates in the Synodal Path and the events that surrounded the so-called ‘German Christians’ during the Nazi period.”

Cardinal Koch stressed expressly that he was far from accusing the synodal participants of the terrible ideology of the ‘30s. Hence, according to the same source, Cardinal Koch apologized to all those who felt offended by the reference. At the end of their meeting, Cardinal Koch and Bishop Bätzing agreed that the theological debate, to which the Cardinal wished to contribute in the interview, should continue. 

For now, due to the controversy and Bishop Bätzing’s threats, Cardinal Koch has cancelled the activities he had planned in Germany in early October.

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