Four German bishops refuse involvement in Synodal Committee (Die Tagespost)

Four German Catholic bishops have announced that they will not participate in the work of a Synodal Committee that has been established by the episcopal conference despite opposition from the Vatican.

Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, and Bishops Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstatt, Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Stefan Oster of Passau joined in a statement that the proposed committee “cannot claim any ecclesiastical competence” over the Church in Germany, and will have no authority to direct diocesan bishops “to adopte new forms of leadership or new approaches in teaching and morality.”