The archbishop warned against indifference to what is happening, which is why he wrote a letter to the president of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK), Bishop Georg Bätzing, in February last year.
“The danger is great that a misunderstood reform of Christianity will once again divide the Church and spread to neighboring countries,” he told Tagespost. Archbishop Gądecki stressed that the problem does not lie in the reforms themselves, but in knowing “whether they are human or divine.”
The prelate explained that true reforms do not arise from a lack of faith, but from an excess of faith and fidelity. However, we see that too many reformers today rely on sociology rather than theology. The social sciences always contain “certain ideological elements,” notably gender theory, Marxism, racism, and eugenics.
Although there has been progress in knowledge, such as on the dignity of women and the rights of children, many “discoveries” in the human sciences are simply the result of anthropological error.
Regarding the upcoming Synod on Synodality, the Polish archbishop complained that the Instrumentum laboris uses ideological terms such as “inclusiveness” and that the question of function focuses too much on the aspect of power and not enough on the aspect of service.
In questions of power, we orient ourselves too much towards politics: “It is about the democratization of the Church, although the Church is naturally hierarchical.” Furthermore, he warned against questioning the Church’s teaching on contraception, as this would amount to changing the teaching on abortion.
Archbishop Gądecki also spoke about academic theology in Germany. Its main problems are “its separation from pastoral care and pastoral responsibility,” the lack of integration in the Church and the increasing specialization of the professors.
Criticisms and remarks are welcome on the eve of the Synodal Assembly, with the hope that they are widely shared by a number of bishops.
Especially since Bishop Georg Bätzing distinguished himself again recently by asking that homosexuals be ordained to the priesthood, opposing the last two popes – Benedict XVI and Francis – who ruled out receiving them in seminaries.
As for Cardinal Reinhard Marx, he affirmed a few days earlier that he was ready to bless homosexual couples, or even any type of union which could not be celebrated as a marriage in the Church.
Stanisław Gądecki, Archbishop of Poznań and President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, described the situation of the Church in Germany as the greatest crisis since the Reformation. The Polish prelate also criticizes the Instrumentum laboris of the next synod.