In a move aimed at achieving what critics have compared to communist councils in the Soviet Union, participants of the Ger-man “Synodal Way” on Saturday voted to create a “Synodal Council” that would permanently over-see the Church in Germany.
At the Frankfurt meeting on September 10, the controversial suggestion won almost 93% of all votes. Only five bishops rejected the document, CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language Partner agency, reported.
The bishops’ names are a matter of public record because the vote was not by secret ballot — a change of proceedings after bishops blocked a pro-LGBT document earlier.
Like others arising from the controversial German event, also known as the “Synodal Path,” the proposal has met fierce criticism. In June, Cardinal Walter Kasper, a theologian considered close to Pope Francis, said there could be no “Synodal Council,” given Church history and theology.
“Synods cannot be institutionally made permanent. The tradition of the Church does not know a synodal church government. A synodal supreme council, as is now envisaged, has no basis in the entire history of the constitution. It would not be a renewal, but an unheard-of innovation.”