Vatican rejects German rebellion against liturgy

Papacy rejected a request from the German Episcopate to let lay persons, including women, to preach homily during Holy Mass. The decision was given by the Dictery on God's Culture and Discipline of the Sacraments, stressing that the present rules cannot be repealed due to the fact that they are based on the very nature of the liturgy, not simply on church discipline.

The Vatican rejects the German rebellion against the liturgy. German bishops sought the approval of Rome to implement 1 of the demands of the alleged Synodal Way, which had been fortified in Germany for respective years. According to their proposal, decently appointed and prepared laymen – both men and women – could replace priests during the homily. The Vatican explicitly refused, indicating that the sermon is an integral part of the liturgy of the word and is the exercise of the teaching office entrusted to ordained persons.

The decision should not surprise anyone. Teaching the Catholic Church has for decades highlighted the peculiar function of a priest operating during the liturgy “in persona Christi”, or in the individual of Christ. That is why the homily preaching during Mass was reserved for bishops, presbyters, and deacons. The Vatican recalled that this is not an organisational or administrative issue that can be freely changed under the influence of local expectations or social pressures.

However, the issue has a much broader dimension than the argument about the homily itself. The German Synod Way has been proposing solutions that rise opposition from many Catholics and bishops in the planet for years. Among them are the demands to increase the secular function in the management of the Church, to change the attitude to sexual morality (to cease recognizing sodomy as sin) or to further grow the functions performed by women. It has been repeatedly pointed out that any of these proposals stand outside the boundary of compliance with the centuries-old teaching of the Church.

Another refusal by the Vatican shows that Rome does not intend to accept attempts to unilaterally redefine Catholic doctrine and liturgy by the Church in Germany. There are more and more voices that the German episcopate acts as if he wanted to make his own model of Catholicism, adapted primarily to contemporary, far-left cultural trends. Critics indicate that this is the way leading to an always deeper conflict with the universal Church.

There is no uncertainty that the further initiatives of German bishops deepen the tensions between Berlin and Rome. If the German episcopate continues to push for solutions previously rejected by the Holy See, it can lead to a situation in which the doctrinal and liturgical unity of the Church is put to a serious test. For many believers, this is no longer a debate about reforms, but a question about limits of obedience to the teaching of the Church. It is hard to talk of formal schism today, but it is very close to this moment.

One cannot neglect to announcement that the destruction, Protestantization and sodomization of the Church in Germany are at a staggering pace. Unfortunately, it is only an component of a larger full – a deep systemic crisis in the Church, which is the consequence of the Second Vatican Council and the ideology of modernism.

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