“A regular exchange” between German bishops and the Vatican “on the further work of the Synodal Way and the Synodal Committee” was agreed.
The next meeting is to take place before the summer.
Friday’s statement did not mention the German Synodal Council by name, and it is unclear whether this controversial project has now been scuppered, suspended, or could ultimately be submitted to the Holy See for approval.
On the Vatican’s side, the participants were the prefects of the Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith (Victor Fernández), for Promoting Christian Unity (Kurt Koch), for Bishops (Robert Prevost), for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Arthur Roche), and for Legislative Texts (Filippo Iannone).
Bishops Georg Bätzing, Stephan Ackermann, Michael Gerber, Peter Kohlgraf, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck represented the German Bishops’ Conference.
The Synodal Way — “Synodaler Weg,” sometimes called Synodal Path — is not a synod. The event brought together Germany’s bishops and selected laypeople to debate and pass resolutions based on a 2018 sexual abuse study.