According to a joint open letter released in Germany, vicars general say ‘fundamental reform’ is ‘essential’ and ask that accusations that participants are ‘lacking orthodoxy’ be avoided during the two-year synodal process. Now that the Pan-Amazonian Synod is over, attention is turning to the German bishops’ “synodal path” whose latest development is the publication of a joint letter from vicars general representing 10 German archdioceses which strongly endorses the synodal process that begins Dec. 1.

The letter, was addressed to the German bishops’ conference and the largest and most influential lay group in the country, the Central Committee of German Catholics.

The vicars general, representing the archbishops of Berlin, Essen, Hamburg, Hildesheim, Limburg, Magdeburg, Münster, Osnabrück, Speyer and Trier, wrote that they considered “fundamental reform of the Church in Germany to be urgently necessary, indeed essential.” According to Katholisch.de, a news portal administered by the German bishops’ conference, they said they wanted a Church “in which plurality and diversity are desired and permitted” as only an open and diverse church has the chance to “remain effectively present” in society. And they see the “synodal path” as means to achieve this.