400,000 Germans quit Catholic Church as talks between Vatican, Synodal Way continue
CNA Newsroom, Jul 1, 2024 / 09:45 am
Just one day after the news that hundreds of thousands of Catholics left the Church in Germany in 2023, the Vatican met with representatives of the German Synodal Way to discuss the controversial plans for a permanent synodal council.
The meeting on Friday resulted in Rome demanding the Germans change the name of the body and agree it cannot have authority over — or be equal to — the bishops’ conference, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
The gathering came at a critical time: According to the official statistics released by the German Bishops’ Conference on Thursday, more than 400,000 people officially left the Church in 2023.
While this represents a decrease from the 522,000 departures in 2022, the trend remains alarming for Church leaders and Catholics alike.