At this moment in the Catholic Church, there are several areas where a schism could occur.
GERMANY
On one hand, there is the Church in Germany. The President of the bishops' conference assures that the Germans want to be in communion with Rome and that they are not trying to “democratize” the local Church or to make it similar to the Evangelical Church—as even the Pope has noted.
POPE FRANCIS
Germany has a great and beautiful Evangelical Church; I would not want another one that will not be as good as that one.
The President of the German Bishops' Conference assures this is not the case and repeats what he said following his first face-to-face meeting with Vatican officials in November 2022.
BP. GEORG BÄTZING
Chairman, German Bishops' Conference
In Germany, we have a great closeness between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church and we appreciate each other very much. But we are different. And the specific characteristic of Catholicism is that we are a sacramentally and hierarchically organized worldwide Church. And we want to remain so.
But the decisions made in the local German synod say otherwise. The Vatican fears that the new synodal body to be created will hold power over the country's own bishops and attempt to make doctrinal changes.
INDIA
India is another area that is experiencing conflict. Part of the Catholic Church of the Syro-Malabar rite does not want to apply the liturgical reform approved by its own synod.
Pope Francis has been very clear in asking priests and bishops who do not agree with the reform to accept it. But the tension has not diminished.
VIGANÒ AND THE LEFEBVRIANS
The Lefebvrians are the supporters of French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated in the late 1980s. He rejected the Second Vatican Council and forced a schism from Rome by ordaining several bishops without the Pope's consent. He died in 1991 but his followers have continued with his vision of the Church.
Since then, the Lefebvrians have had several encounters with Rome but never a definitive reunification. The now Archbishop Viganò—the former nuncio to the United States who will soon undergo a Church trial for schism—has close ties to the Lefebvrians and has created a foundation to financially support various traditionalist groups.
JRB
TR: AT
