By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-10-23 00:12:58 | Updated at 2024-10-23 22:35:37
22 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // As the Synod on Synodality in Rome draws to a close with calls for doctrinal authority to be vested in the national conferences of bishops, German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller has called for the Church to reduce the role of episcopal conferences and restore provincial councils.
Cardinal Brandmüller’s remarks were first published by the Italian journal Settimo Cielo. Drawing on Saint Paul’s admonition in his Letter to the Romans, “Be not conformed to this world,” Brandmüller questioned whether episcopal conferences truly reflected the teachings of Vatican II and whether they aligned with the Church’s original structures of collegiality.
To explain this, Brandmüller contrasted episcopal conferences with the traditional provincial councils, which were assemblies of bishops from specific ecclesiastical provinces. These councils arose organically through the historical and sacramental process of “filiation,” where new dioceses were created under the guidance of a “mother church.”
This sacramental origin gave provincial councils an inherent authority rooted in tradition and apostolic succession. As Brandmüller explained, “The object of tradition is not only the teaching but the entire reality of the Church, fleshed out in the provincial synod.”
On the other hand, the cardinal wrote, episcopal conferences were assemblies of bishops within national boundaries, governed not by ecclesiological principles but by political considerations. Originally, these conferences were meant to address issues related to the Church’s relationship with the state and society. However, over time, these bodies began to encroach on matters internal to the Church, such as teaching, liturgy, and pastoral ministry. This shift, according to Brandmüller, represented a dangerous bureaucratic overreach that compromised the autonomy of individual bishops.
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Brandmüller pointed to the post-Vatican II period as a turning point, when episcopal conferences began to assume more authority than originally intended. This trend was criticized by Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, who initially saw episcopal conferences as a continuation of the early Church’s synodal structure but later expressed disappointment. Brandmüller quoted Ratzinger’s evolving view: “The bureaucratic apparatus of the episcopal conferences increasingly took charge of questions that concerned the individual bishop,” leading to a loss of freedom and autonomy.
In addition to these internal challenges, Brandmüller warned that the national character of episcopal conferences threatened the unity of the universal Church. He cited historical examples, such as the failed national councils in France and Germany, to illustrate the dangers of national churches that operated independently from Rome. The introduction of local regulations, particularly in the liturgy, was a sign of this fragmentation.
“This is experienced in the most evident manner in the liturgy; one need only think of the introduction of the national languages,” Brandmüller noted. He also referenced the disunity that arose when local episcopal conferences interpreted Church teachings differently, as seen with “Amoris Laetitia.”
Despite these concerns, Brandmüller acknowledged the necessity of episcopal conferences, especially in an increasingly secularized world. These conferences were vital for addressing the Church’s external relations with the state. However, he argued that their functions should be limited to matters “ad extra,” or external, and that internal Church matters should remain within the purview of provincial councils.
“What seems appropriate in these circumstances,” he wrote, “is to focus the responsibilities of the episcopal conference… to limit them to those questions which concern the ‘ad extra’ relations of the Church.”
Brandmüller called for a revival of the provincial synod as a sacred event, rooted in the episcopal ordination of bishops. “The provincial synod is not a clerical ‘business meeting,’ but rather a sacred event: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,’ (Mt 18:20),” he said.
The restoration of the synod as a liturgical and spiritual exercise, Brandmüller hoped, would reverse the secularization of the Church. By reclaiming the sacred character of episcopal governance, he wrote, the Church could strengthen its spiritual foundations and renew its mission in a world increasingly hostile to faith. “If this authentic form of collegial episcopal action could be revived, it would be an important step toward … a spiritual revival of the Church, especially in Europe,” Brandmüller wrote.
Such a renewal was urgent, Brandmüller emphasized, as the Church faces unprecedented challenges from within and without. To preserve the faith and reverse the decline of religious life, he argued, the Church must return to its roots, rediscovering the sacred traditions that had sustained it for centuries.
