German Bishops and the Specter of Schism: How Did It Come to This?

On January 17, Pope Leo XIV received in audience the Apostolic Nuncio to the Federal Republic of Germany, Msgr. Nikola Eterović. The meeting is presumed to have revolved around the imminent vote by the German Bishops’ Conference on the statute of the infamous Synodal Conference, which has caused the Vatican many headaches in recent years. From January 29 to 31, in Stuttgart, the sixth and final phase of the Synodal Assembly of the Catholic Church in Germany will take place. But let us proceed in order.

Alongside the German Bishops’ Conference, that is, the body that brings together all the bishops and coordinates pastoral care, liturgy, communication, and various other initiatives, there is, at the head of the Catholic Church in Germany, the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), a body unique worldwide. To date, the ZdK limits itself to representing German Catholics in the public sphere, coordinating the apostolate of the laity, advising and providing recommendations to bishops, and publishing statements on issues of public relevance. It has no decision-making power, because in the Catholic Church, the power of governance belongs to the pope and to the bishops in communion with him.

Although the ZdK was historically born to protect the Catholic minority in a Protestant country, culturally very aggressive toward the ‘papists’, after the Second Vatican Council, the ZdK degenerated into an almost parliamentary body and was exploited by progressives to attempt to initiate reforms in a democratic sense within the Church.

Another aspect of the German church that makes it doubly unique in the Catholic landscape is that it is the richest church in the world. In 2025, the assets of the Holy See amounted to about €4 billion, while the German church possessed assets estimated at €250 billion. Although money does not explain all the dynamics at play, it nonetheless evidently plays a considerable role in understanding certain choices. The Vatican is very cautious about breaking ties with a church that, willingly or unwillingly, represents a considerable financial lung. And the German bishops know this well.

The so-called Synodal Path of the German Catholic Church (Der Synodaler Weg) began on December 1, 2019, after a careful preparatory phase managed by the German Bishops’ Conference and the ZdK. A group of 230 people initially gathered to discuss four themes: the separation of powers within the church; sexual morality; the priestly ministry, particularly in relation to celibacy; the role of women in ecclesial life. The list almost coincides with the “four knots” that Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, pioneer of Catholic progressivism under John Paul II, presented to European bishops in 1999.

The issue that detonated the entire process was that of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, which, during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, became a global theme, amplified and exploited by numerous progressive media and institutional sectors to besmirch the ‘conservative turn’ that Pope Benedict had given to the governance of the Church.

In Germany, the pressure was particularly intense, whether because of the German origin of Pope Benedict or because of the strong progressive and pro-Protestant presence within the clergy. In Germany, therefore, more than elsewhere, the issue of abuse was presented and interpreted publicly by Catholics themselves not only as a moral failure, but as the symptom of a systemic failure of the Catholic Church: doctrinal, juridical, cultural. From here, the Synodal Path started to rethink the Church in its entirety.

In the meantime, Benedict XVI resigned in 2013 from the ministry of Bishop of Rome. The cardinals gathered in conclave decided to elect, as is well known, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, that is, Francis, who was the key candidate of the so-called Reformist Group of St. Gallen, then led by the already mentioned Martini: a group of cardinals and bishops, predominantly from the German area, who intended to reform the entire Catholic Church in a direction analogous to, but not entirely overlapping with, that intended to be launched in Germany. 

Francis, however, once he came to power, did not behave like a pawn: of Bergoglio’s impulsive and independent character, after all, the Jesuit Martini was well aware. Francis’ agenda, while proving strongly revolutionary, has not been entirely matching the agenda of the Group of St. Gallen.

Francis also decided to gradually introduce the ‘synodal method’ into the Catholic Church, but he did so in a different way from the German bishops. The most important difference consists in the speed of application. The German bishops proposed to reform the church by means of voting, therefore in an immediate and democratic manner. Francis, who was certainly a revolutionary of acceleration but with greater practical sense, knew that reforms had to be introduced with non-democratic acts, certainly decisive, but nevertheless gradual. From here, the inevitable friction between the German church and the Holy See on issues of morality and doctrine. Francis aspired, like the German bishops, to a democratic reform of the Church, but camouflaged as a process of listening, discernment, and therefore composed of numerous phases (in Italy, the synodal process should see its end only in 2030).

In 2019, when the German Synodal Path was launched, Bishop Filippo Iannone wrote to the ultra-progressive Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, warning that themes such as the female diaconate, priestly celibacy, and the separation of powers could not be decided by a particular church because they concern the universal Church. Despite this, the German bishops ignored him and continued along the path: they knew they had the wallet in their pocket.

In 2021, as recently revealed by an investigation by Il Giornale, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sent a letter to Marx in which he expressed “great concern” about the Synodal Path and foresaw its “disastrous outcomes.” Cardinal Marx, who had been included as early as 2013 by Francis in the group of nine cardinals charged with studying a reform of the Curia, felt obstructed. 

He, obviously, wanted to reform the Roman curia (and therefore the entire Church) modo germanico, but his project had been hindered by the conservative Australian Cardinal George Pell and then, after 2017, above all by the moderate reformist Pietro Parolin, also convened by Francis in the same cardinal study group. Marx therefore felt, in some way, betrayed by Francis.

The reaction was immediate. First, on May 21, 2021, Marx decided to hand in his resignation as Archbishop of Munich, presenting it in the media as an act of protest: “The Church needs the voice of the Gospel, a church that renews itself,” he said on that occasion. “The Catholic Church has reached a dead end. I would like it to be clear: I am ready to assume personal responsibility, not only for my mistakes, but for the institution of the Church, which I have helped to shape and shape for decades.” Francis refused the resignation.

Then, less than a year later, on January 20, 2022, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising published a report presented as “independent” and detailed on the handling of sexual abuse in the Diocese since 1945. The report ended up indirectly involving Benedict, and his figure was once again besmirched at the media level. Many read the report as further confirmation to accelerate the synodal process, despite the resistance of the Holy See.

In 2023, the German Synodal Path moved to the second phase. A Synodal Committee was established—a mixed and provisional working group composed of bishops and laity, whose task was to prepare the future permanent structure of the German church, evaluating resolutions and defining statutes. The ultimate goal was the formation of the Synodal Council or Conference (Synodalkonferenz), the permanent body composed of laity and bishops with decision-making powers on themes such as the separation of powers within the Church in a democratic and parliamentary sense, the female diaconate and presbyterate, optional priestly celibacy, the definitive admission of the divorced and remarried to sacramental life with consequent revisiting of sacramental theology, and the recognition of LGBT Catholics.

Naturally, the progressive German bishops will need the approval of the Holy See, which, following the election of Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, has become even less likely than under Francis. This lesser probability became more evident when Filippo Iannone, the person who first illustrated to the German bishops the difficult situation in which they found themselves, was made prefect of bishops by Leo XIV on September 26, 2025. 

It is no coincidence: the pope needs a man who knows the reality of the German bishops well in order to manage them with velvet gloves. On the one hand, Pope Leo continues in the wake of Francis in progressive episcopal appointments throughout the world; on the other hand, he wants to contain as much as possible the German haemorrhage in order to avoid schism. Unlike Francis, Leo wants cohesion at all costs.

But this is perhaps the reason for the confidence that the German bishops seem to harbor at the same time. The famous Chinese general Sun Tzu argued that the greatest strategist is the one who defeats the enemy without resorting to war. Prevost, on the other hand, wants to avoid war, if possible by defeating the enemy.

In the face of Leo XIV’s work to preserve the union of opposites at all costs, the German Catholic Church increasingly threatens to separate from Rome, even if it, in fact, already operates autonomously without any Vatican authority having shown the courage to take serious measures, such as the apostolic visitation and administration of dioceses or seminaries. The realities in the Church that have so far been visited and administered directly from the Holy See and ‘called to order’ are the traditional ones, accused of threatening the visible unity of the Church, when, in reality, the only appeal made by these realities is precisely that of preserving unity in doctrine—that which the German church puts increasingly at risk every day.

During the last Consistory of January 7–8, Cardinal Marx intervened by wishing for the introduction of the female diaconate and expressing the intention to extend the “German synodal model” to the entire Church. All this despite the fact that the theme of the female diaconate was not at all on the agenda, and despite the fact that Cardinal Mario Grech, a staunch Bergoglian and Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops wanted by Francis, clarified in his speech that the pope has the “right to interrupt” any “synodal process,” clearly alluding to what has been happening for too many years in Germany.

We have entered a new phase: Georg Bätzing has announced that he will not run again for the leadership of the German bishops. For whom does he intend to make room? The outcome remains to be seen. There remains a bitter paradox: Pope Leo XIV, elected with the intention of stitching together opposites, risks being remembered as the pontiff under whom the most serious Catholic schism since the time of the Lutheran Reformation matured.