“The next schism in Christendom is just around the corner,” warns a statement issued by a German Catholic group, the “New Beginning” initiative, in an alert about the radical changes suggested by the German hierarchy in its “Synodal Path.”

A manifesto issued by the New Beginning, calling for reforms that sustain the traditions of the Church, has attracted 6,000 signatures. The group has complained that the “Synodal Path” represented a bid to use the sex-abuse crisis as a pretext for sweeping doctrinal changes that could divide the Church.