After a meeting with Vatican officials, the leaders of the German bishops’ conference still plan to forge ahead with plans to form a “Synodal Committee” in which lay people would join with bishops in forming Church policies.
Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the episcopal conference, co-signed a letter with Irme Stetter-Karp, the head of the Central Committee of German Catholics, to assure supporters that their work would proceed. The letter reveals that the German bishops assured Vatican officials that “the proposal complies with the Church’s guidelines,” and “agreed that there will be feedback with the Curia during the further process of designing the Synodal Council.”
The Vatican has expressed grave reservations about the Synodal Committee, warning the German hierarchy that the authority of bishops cannot be shared with lay people.