Spring meeting of the bishops: Church wants to continue to interfer in politics

The Catholic Church wants to continue to interfere with politics. “We are not a political party as a Catholic Church, but from the gospel we have a clear political mandate, which feeds on our image of man and from our image of God,” said the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, before the start of the four -day spring meeting of the bishops in the Steinfeld monastery near Aachen. “We will speak out when there are things that we cannot do well.”

The relationship between politics and the church is one of the topics of the bishop’s meeting. This was preceded by an exchange of blows by the Catholic and Evangelical Church with the C parties. The Berlin representative of the Bishops’ Conference, Karl Jüsten, and the representative of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Anne Gidion, had sharply criticized the joint votes of the Union parties with the AfD in the Bundestag. Both also condemned the pitch of the migration debate.

CSU boss Söder recommended more reluctance to the churches

Union politicians had partly reacted to this. The former CDU chairman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer ended her cooperation in the central committee of the German Catholics (ZDK). CSU boss Markus Söder suggested more reluctance to the churches in political questions.

Bätzing no longer wanted to go into detail about Söder’s criticism. “It was an election campaign,” he just said. “I think we get along well.” In terms of content, the churches basically only repeated known positions.

Of course, politicians would have to find an answer to the important question of how many refugees can integrate Germany. But: “We see such an incredible value in the open borders that we will say that again and again.” Another point is the family reunification: the family’s Catholic Church contributes such a high priority that it is also the advocate of the refugees here. Integration also makes it easier if people are involved in a family, said Bätzing.

Bätzing is shocked by cutting off the AfD

The Limburg bishop described the performance of the AfD as “very worrying”. The positions, which were almost frozen in the election campaign of the AfD, had “shocked him,” he said.

“The times are over that you could simply say,” yes, it is the dissatisfied in the country who also choose AfD, and you have to deal with them very moderately, we have to differentiate between the party and their voters, “said Bätzing. “I say: Anyone who chose AfD in the Bundestag election knew what he wanted to support, and then he has to take on – and you – take responsibility. With our solidarity in these questions, she or he must not calculate.”

A year ago, the bishops in the explanation of “ethnic nationalism and Christianity” were already clear that right -wing extremists and right -wing radical parties were not eligible for Christians. In addition, the bishops made it clear: “The spread of right-wing extremist slogans- including racism and anti-Semitism- is also incompatible with a full-time or voluntary service in the church.”