German Bishop Gives Eucharist to Muslims & Protestants.

German bishops gave Holy Communion to a Muslim politician and a Protestant politician during Masses at a “Catholics Day” event in late May.

In a stroke of irony, the biannual event, called Katholikentag, also prohibited the German Federal Association for Life from setting up a stall on its grounds for the first time in its history.

Event organizers reportedly told the pro-life group, “During the examination, the program group could not determine that your organization is clearly Christian,” according to a statement by the association’s president, Alexandra Maria Linder.

Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart gave Holy Communion at the event’s opening Mass to Muhterem Aras, a Muslim German parliamentarian of the environmentalist “Greens” party, CNA Deutsch reported. 

Makes you wonder why a Muslim would want to receive the Eucharist?

Similarly, and perhaps more pertinent to a papacy which has the temerity to see itself as the Guardians of Tradition while attacking any semblance of orthodoxy in the Church as "rigid", would the Muslims and Protestants have wanted to receive if Communion had been distributed in the proper manner, ie kneeling and on the tongue?

Thomas de Maizière, a former defence minister and interior minister who served in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet for 12 years, was seen receiving the Eucharist from Bishop Bätzing, reported CNA Deutsch.

An image of Bishop Bätzing giving Communion to the prominent Protestant was posted on Twitter:

The Register reports that Bishop Bätzing has repeatedly expressed qualified support for intercommunion with Protestants, telling journalists in February 2021 that it was necessary to respect the “personal decision of conscience” of those seeking to receive Communion.

Bishop Bätzing also led an ecumenical study group that published the 2019 document “Together at the Lord’s Table,” proposing a “Eucharistic meal fellowship” between Catholics and Protestants.

The situation triggered a response by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in September 2020.

In a four-page critique and letter to Bishop Bätzing, the doctrinal congregation emphasized that significant differences in understanding of the Eucharist and ministry remained between Protestants and Catholics.

“The doctrinal differences are still so important that they currently rule out reciprocal participation in the Lord’s Supper and the Eucharist,” it said.

“The document cannot therefore serve as a guide for an individual decision of conscience about approaching the Eucharist.”

The CDF cautioned against any steps toward intercommunion between Catholics and members of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Following the Vatican intervention, Bishop Bätzing reaffirmed his view that intercommunion with Protestants should be possible. Now it seems he is just ignoring the Vatican and moving forward with his own ideas.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Swiss president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also expressed serious misgivings about the “Eucharistic meal fellowship” proposal.

There was little sign of such a fellowship being wilfully orchestrated in Stuttgart, CNA Deutsch reported, quoting local media as saying that there was some confusion about who could receive Communion, with one Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion telling a Protestant visitor: “I don’t know. I only know that this is the Body of Christ.”

Despite the controversies, a survey showed that most Catholics are not interested in the event, CNA Deutsch reported. Attendance numbers are dwindling, while the costs are extensive, with the Stuttgart event expected to cost more than 10 million euros (around $11 million).

So will we see the Pope correct ze Germanz? Don't hold your breath! I imagine that one of the reasons ze Germanz are pushing ahead in this direct is that it is something Pope Francis has offered tacit support for (despite it being heresy).

In 2018, on a papal flight (where else?), Francis said intercommunion policy should be decided by diocesan bishops. Speaking aboard the papal flight from Geneva to Rome June 21, the pope told journalists that the Code of Canon Law leaves decisions about the criteria for intercommunion to diocesan bishops, in order that their decisions will apply only to their individual dioceses, rather than to the Church across an entire country.

The pope said that although the German bishops attempted to establish guidelines through their episcopal conference, "the Code does not foresee that. It foresees the bishop of the diocese, but not the conference, because a thing approved by an episcopal conference immediately becomes universal."

 

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