(LifeSiteNews) — The head of the German bishops’ conference has declared that he does not want to “accept an irrevocable ‘No’ from the Vatican” regarding the ordination of women priests.
According to a report by the German bishops’ own news site katholisch.de, Bishop Georg Bätzing said that “even if Rome sees this point as settled, it is still an urgent question” that has been asked and is therefore “on the table.”
Bätzing stressed that women are the central issue for the future.
“Access to the ecclesiastical office must be opened up, or it is hard to imagine the future of the Church in our country,” the prelate said.
“We must vigorously defend our German causes,” he proclaimed.
At the same time, he also dampened expectations that celibacy for priests would be lifted and women admitted to the ordained ministry at the end of the German Synodal Way.
“On Universal Church issues, we can only ask for our concerns to be processed,” Bätzing said. “We are doing what is possible.”
RELATED: German bishop sees visit with Pope Francis as avenue to push agenda for women’s ordinations
Sign the petition to let Abp. Broglio know that you support his stance against the woke mob!
In a thrilling win against the leftist infiltrators in the Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made a key electoral decision at their Fall General Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland last week.
As reported on LifeSiteNews, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was elected Tuesday to serve as the next president of the USCCB.
Broglio has consistently defended Catholic teaching – his orthodox record has been a constant source of frustration to liberal bishops across the country. The military archbishop is one of a small number of prelates who:
- Opposed COVID-era restrictions on public Masses.
- Denounced COVID shot mandates for US Catholic servicemen.
- Supports freedom of conscience exemptions to jab mandates.
- Backed former President Donald Trump’s ban on gender-confused troops.
- Implemented guidelines prohibiting military chaplains from blessing same-sex unions.
- Recognizes homosexuality as a root cause of the clerical sex abuse crisis.
- Stressed that Pope Francis’ affirmation of same-sex unions is NOT Church teaching.
Abp. Broglio has shown support for our pro-life, pro-family, and pro-freedom movement – let’s show our support for him!
Say ‘THANK YOU’ to Abp. Broglio for standing up to left-wing bishops and defending Catholic values!
Tuesday’s election was a clear rejection of decidedly liberal candidates, including pro-LGBT Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and radical leftist Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Síller of San Antonio.
Left-wing Catholics are outraged about the results of the USCCB elections – now more than ever, Abp. Broglio needs the support of faithful Catholics like YOU!
STAND WITH ABP. BROGLIO against the woke mob and left-wing infiltrators of the Church! Add your name to the growing list NOW.
For more information:
Archbishop Broglio elected USCCB president
New USCCB head: Link between clergy sex abuse and homosexual priests ‘can’t be denied’
Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed the question of female priests during the recent ad limina visit of the German bishops in the Vatican.
In his statement, Ladaria reiterated that the Catholic Church has already definitively spoken on the matter and said that “one must accept the truth that ‘the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women priests’ (St. John Paul II, Ordinatio sacerdotalis).”
The documents of the German Synodal Way have called for a change in Church teaching on the matter of women’s ordinations, even though the Magisterium of the Church has declared the matter definitively settled.
During the fourth Assembly of the Synodal Way in September, over 80 % of the German bishops approved a text calling for women’s ordinations.
RELATED: German Synodal Way proceeds after bishops ‘encouraged’ by meeting with Pope Francis
The heterodox text called for a reassessment of Pope St. John Paul II’s magisterial Ordinatio sacerdotalis (1994), the document in which the Pope confirmed the Church’s constant bi-millennial teaching of an exclusively male priesthood. In his apostolic letter, John Paul II quoted Pope Paul VI in his affirmation of the Church’s teaching on the matter:
She [the Catholic Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church. (Ordinatio sacerdotalis 1)
John Paul II added this emphatic declaration regarding the question of priestly ordination for women:
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful. (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 4)
The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a group of ecclesial communities forming the nation’s largest Protestant organization, has itself appointed women to clerical roles. The practice is not new to German Protestants: in 1927, the Evangelical-United Protestant Church of the Old Prussian Union introduced the ordination of women with limited duties and rights. Other members of the EKD followed suit in the latter half of the 20th century.