THE POPE’S LETTER TO FOUR LAY THEOLOGIANS CORRECTING THE GERMAN SCHISM—HOW AUTHORITATIVE IS IT? NOT AT ALL, BUT…

Our Sunday Visitor has a commentary on Pope Francis’ recent letter to four German lay theologians which is a positive correction to the on-going schism potential in Germany. While it indicates a clear analysis of what the problem is in Germany, it’s just a personal letter to four theologians. Nothing else at this point. You can take it or leave it. 

But it does give insights into the pope’s thinking and what a formal intervention my look like which would be authoritative. But I don’t think the radical Germans give a flip and they will go forward. A Bishop Strickland type anathema is needed by the pope or excommunications. That would be formal, authoritative and a great step forward. Both of these are graces to seek repentance and a return to orthodoxy.

Here’s the OSV commentary:

Letter to German women reveals where Pope Francis stands

A letter written by Pope Francis on Nov. 10 to four German Catholic laywomen — Professor Westerhorstmann, Professor Schlosser, Professor Gerlalkovitz, and Mrs. Schmidt — reveals where Pope Francis stands vis a vis the German Synodal Path. First published by the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21, the letter highlights the pope’s concerns regarding the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany. Don’t miss Deacon Dominic Cerrato’s explanation of the letter’s significance by pressing the title above.

This was far more authoritative from the pope, but obviously the German schismatics don’t care:

2019 Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany

Press title:

Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany

In the letter, he also recalled his Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany, published on 29 June 2019: a ten-page document divided into thirteen points, in which the Bishop of Rome called on the leaders of the Church in Germany to walk the correct path, that of the Gospel, without falling into functionalist drifts or ideological reductions.

The Letter was also mentioned in the declaration of the Holy See on 21 July 2021, clarifying that the synodal process cannot make doctrinal decisions.

It does not have the "authority to obligate bishops and the faithful" to "new forms of governance and new doctrinal and moral approaches," the text stated, concluding with the hope that the proposals of the German path could merge into the synodal path of the universal Church.