“The resolutions of the Synodal Way and the Synodal Committee have less binding legal effect than the resolution of a rabbit breeders’ association,” Hallermann continued.
“The fact that the Synodal Way itself has continually violated its own statutes is another matter.”
Even earlier, another professor of canon law, Norbert Lüdecke, questioned the body’s legitimacy in a piece for Herder Korrespondenz.
No support from priests, lay people
German Catholics generally do not support the controversial project launched in 2019.
Despite applying pressure tactics to push through the multimillion-dollar project, the Synodal Way has not only failed to convince German priests. Prominent female participants abandoned the polarising process.
Outside of Germany, Pope Francis, cardinals, theologians, and many bishops around the world have called into question the event’s premise, approach, and resolutions.
At the same time, most German Catholics reportedly are indifferent to the expensive exercise.
According to CNA Deutsch, a survey in September 2020 showed that only 19% of Catholics agreed with the statement that the Synodal Way was of interest to them. The vast majority of Germans responded in the negative.
Since then, participants not only discussed but also passed a raft of resolutions, demanding the Church adopt transgender ideology, women’s ordination, and other controversial goals.
Proceedings and resolutions were justified on the basis of the MHG Study, an investigation of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany.
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As CNA Deutsch reported, at least one respected medical expert raised concerns about the study as early as 2018.
Following the publication of a Protestant study in January 2024, the group Neuer Anfang called into doubt the “persistent narrative of the Synodal Way attributing systemic causes of abuse to specifically Catholic factors.”
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