German Prelates Distance Themselves from Vatican

Cardinal Karl Lehmann (Mainz)

At least seven high-ranking German Catholic prelates have distanced themselves publicly from the Vatican on the matter of the anti-Semitic SSPX. While all statements have been respectful of the Pope, as indeed they need to be, none left a doubt that these high-ranking bishops, and in one case a cardinal, were dismayed by the anti-Semitic implications of the Vatican's reaching out to the SSPX sect.

These are the seven whose statements I have seen so far:

1) Cardinal Karl Lehmann (Mainz)

2) Archbishop Reinhard Marx (Munich)

3) Archbishop Werner Thissen (Hamburg)

4) Bishop Joachim Reinelt (Dresden-Meissen)

5) Bishop Franz-Josef Bode (Osnabrueck)

6) Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke (Hamburg)

7) Bishop Gebhard Fürst (Rottenburg-Stuttgart)

The German news service Tagesschau carries most of the details. The particularly strong statement by Cardinal Lehmann, demanding an apology from the Vatican, is reported by swr.de.

UPDATE, Feb. 4: Yet another German cardinal, George Kardinal Sterzinsky, the archbishop of Berlin, has critized the Vatican: "To lift the excommunication of the four SSPX bishops is, for most people, incomprehensible and outrageous," according to the report by Bild.