Mit brennender Sorge…Die Katholische Kirche in Deutschland Heute

[Author’s Note:  This article was written in three parts.  The first part was written in German and was inspired by Pope Pius XI’s 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.  The second part is an English translation of the first part.  The third part is a commentary on the first two parts written in English.]

Mit brennender Sorge Heute

 Mit brennender Sorge beobachte ich seit geraumer Zeit den Leidensweg der Katholische Kirche in Deutschland.  Die Deutsche Bischöfe folgen die Zeitgeist und nicht das Evangelium Christi und die heiligen Schriften. Im Deutschland, viele Bischöfe lehren Ideen, die der heiligen Schriftten und das Evangelium Christi widersprechen.   “Der im Evangelium Jesu Christi erreichte Höhepunkt der Offenbarung ist endgültig, ist verpflichtend für immer. Diese Offenbarung kennt keine Nachträge durch Menschenhand…” schrieb Papst Pius XI in seiner 1937 Enzyklika Mit brennender Sorge.  Die Deutsche Bischöfe müssen die Heiligen Schriften und das Evangelium lehren.  Sie müssen nicht LGBTQ+ Ideen lehren.  

With Burning Concern Today

With burning concern, I have been watching the ordeal of the Catholic Church in Germany.  The German Bishops are following the spirit of the world and not the Gospel of Christ and Holy Scriptures.   In Germany, many bishops are teaching ideas contrary to Holy Scripture and the Gospels of Christ.  “The peak of the revelation as reached in the Gospel of Christ is final and permanent. It knows no retouches by human hand…” wrote Pope Pius XI in his 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.  The German bishops must teach the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels; they must not teach LGBTQ+ ideas.  

Commentary

In March 1937, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical Mit brennender Sorge in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany.  In referencing this important encyclical, I am not equating the situation in the German Catholic Church today with the evils of Nazism in the 1930 and 1940s.  Nevertheless, there very disturbing trends occurring with the Catholic Church in Germany.  In 1937, the threat to German Catholicism was coming from outside the Church.  Today, the threat to German Catholicism is coming from within the Church.  The Catholic Church in Germany is facing the most alarming theological peril since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517.  Through their synodal process, many German bishops are pushing for changes in the Church’s Biblical-based and tradition-based teachings on homosexuality, same-sex union, priestly celibacy and the ordaining of women as priests.  In defiance of Church teachings and the Vatican, several German priests blessed same sex unions earlier this year.   Earlier this month, Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann of the Diocese of Speyer asked the priests of his diocese to bless same-sex unions.   In March 2021, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document which emphatically stated that the Church cannot bless same-sex unions.  After explaining the reasons why, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded, “…the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex.” (See https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html  )

 
The actions and words of certain German bishops is threatening the deposit of faith that they have been entrusted with as successors of the Apostles.  I pray most earnestly that the Holy Spirit will lead them back to the Truth and rescue them from the theological errors which they are promoting.