In a significant setback for the Synodal Way project in Germany, the German bishops will not be voting on a step toward a forbidden “Synodal Council” at their upcoming plenary assembly at the Vatican’s request.
German Bishops Conference (DBK) spokesman Matthias Kopp confirmed on February 17 that the bishops have removed a vote on endorsing a committee that is preparing the Synodal Council, a mixed body of laity and bishops that would govern the Church in Germany, from the agenda of their Feb. 19–22 meeting in Augsburg.
The development comes after the DBK received a letter from the Vatican on the same day.
“This letter requests that the General Assembly – also due to upcoming discussions between representatives of the Roman Curia and representatives of the German Bishops’ Conference – not vote on the statutes of the Synodal Committee,” Kopp told Germany’s Catholic News Agency (KNA).
Although it had not been explicitly on the publicly available agenda of the DBK assembly, a vote on approving the committee preparing the Synodal Council had been widely expected to take place in Augsburg.
The DBK’s co-sponsor of the Synodal Way, the Central Committee of German Catholics lay lobby (ZdK), had previously approved the statutes of the preparatory committee.