In a German-language interview with Communio, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said that the dispute between the Vatican and the German bishops’ Synodal Way is ultimately about the content of faith, and not about power.
“From the very beginning, the Pope’s critical accompaniment of the Synodal Way has been motivated by concern for the faith,” said Cardinal Schönborn. “The growing tensions are not an expression of a conflict between ‘Rome and Germany,’ but rather of the basic understanding of the Church.”
“The German bishops must seriously ask themselves whether they really want to break away from communion with and under the Pope,” he continued. “I do not wish the Catholic Church in Germany the same fate as the Old Catholic Church,” which went into schism following the First Vatican Council.
Cardinal Schönborn added that the Synodal Way’s proposal for lay governance, far from being in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, contradicts the council’s teaching.
“The bishop cannot delegate the personal responsibility of transmitting the faith to committees,” the prelate said.