As the Catholic bishops of Germany prepare for a spring assembly next week, Jonathan Liedl writes for the National Catholic Register that they face a watershed choice on the development of a Synodal Council—a development that the Vatican has adamantly opposed.
If the bishops approve the proposed statutes for the Synodal Council, they will be acting in direct defiance of the Vatican, heightening the risk of outright schism. But failure move forward with the plan would signal a break from the bishops’ commitment to their “Synodal Path”—and could draw angry reactions from the lay activists with whom they have cooperated on that campaign.