We Are Church Intl.

Germany

"Wir sind Kirche" wirft Papst Benedikt Kirchenspaltung vor

[ English ]

Die Reformbewegung "Wir sind Kirche" wirft dem emeritierten Papst Benedikt einen Beitrag zur Spaltung der katholischen Kirche vor. Seine jüngsten Äußerungen zum Zölibat seien "ungeheuerlich", sagte der Sprecher der Bewegung, Christian Weisner, am Montag in München.

Joseph Ratzinger habe nach seinem Rücktritt als Papst gesagt, "dass er schweigen und sich nicht mehr in die Kirchenpolitik einmischen will". Jetzt tue er sich aber mit einem dezidierten Kritiker seines Nachfolgers Papst Franziskus zusammen. "Das ist eine Kirchenspaltung, zu der er ganz entschieden und in ganz unverantwortlicher Weise beiträgt", sagte Weisner. "Das ist ein ganz ungutes Zeichen."

Weisner rief die katholischen Bischöfe auf, sich deutlich zu distanzieren und ihm zu sagen: "Lieber Joseph Ratzinger, jetzt ist es mal genug."

Auch inhaltlich ist das Festhalten am Zölibat, das Ratzinger laut Vorab-Abdrucken in der französischen Zeitung "Le Figaro" in einem neuen Buch gemeinsam mit dem konservativen Kardinal Robert Sarah fordert, aus Sicht von "Wir sind Kirche" der völlig falsche Weg. Die Kirche könne in Zeiten des weltweiten Priestermangels "eine Missionstätigkeit und die Aufrechthaltung der Gemeinden bei uns anders gar nicht leisten", sagte Weisner.

"In der ganzen Kirchengeschichte gab es lange Phasen, wo der Zölibat nicht verpflichtend gewesen ist", betonte er. "Die katholische Kirche hat sich in der Vergangenheit viel mehr gewandelt als man es uns heute weißmachen will."

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/kirche-muenchen-wir-sind-kirche-wirft-papst-benedikt-kirchenspaltung-vor-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-200113-99-457545

AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION WITH DEEPL:

"We are Church" accuses Pope Benedict of church division The reform movement "We are Church" accuses the emeritus Pope Benedict of contributing to the division of the Catholic Church. His recent statements on celibacy are "outrageous", said the movement's spokesman, Christian Weisner, on Monday in Munich.

After his resignation as Pope, Joseph Ratzinger had said "that he would keep silent and no longer interfere in church politics". Now, however, he was joining forces with a determined critic of his successor Pope Francis. "This is a schism in the Church to which he is contributing in a very decisive and irresponsible way," Weisner said. "This is a very bad sign."

Weisner called on the Catholic bishops to distance themselves clearly and tell him: "Dear Joseph Ratzinger, enough is enough."

Also in terms of content, the adherence to celibacy, which Ratzinger demands together with the conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah in a new book, according to advance reprints in the French newspaper "Le Figaro", is from the point of view of "We are Church" the completely wrong way. In times of a worldwide lack of priests, the church could not otherwise "perform missionary work and keep the congregations upright in our country", Weisner said.

"In the whole history of the church there were long phases where celibacy was not obligatory," he stressed. "The Catholic Church has changed much more in the past than we are told today.

Best wishes

C h r i s t i a n W e i s n e r WE ARE CHURCH GERMANY

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