As the Augsburg vote nears, Pope Leo XIV weighs intervention while Benedict XVI’s warning to Cardinal Marx haunts Germany’s synodal path.
Newsroom (20/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) “There will be harm, and it will end badly if it is not stopped.”
Those words—written by Benedict XVI in 2021 to Cardinal Reinhard Marx—now echo with fresh gravity inside the Vatican walls. With 33 days remaining before the German bishops convene in Augsburg for a decisive vote on the statutes of a permanent Synodal Conference, time is running short for Rome to act.
Last Friday, Pope Leo XIV received Archbishop Nikola Eterović, the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany, in a meeting steeped in tension and anticipation. Eterović, who has witnessed years of episcopal defiance and Vatican warnings ignored, stands at the center of one of the gravest ecclesial crises in decades.
The Augsburg Countdown
Between February 19 and 22, the German Bishops’ Conference will debate a plan that could reshape the Catholic Church’s structure in Germany—and possibly beyond. The proposed “Synodal Conference” would grant lay Catholics equal voting authority alongside bishops on doctrinal, pastoral, and financial matters. It would, in essence, transform governance within one of the Church’s wealthiest and most influential national communities.
The concept was endorsed on November 22 in Fulda, when bishops and lay representatives voted unanimously to approve the statutes. Despite explicit Vatican objections since 2019, proponents—the Central Committee of German Catholics foremost among them—frame the move as a democratic evolution of ecclesial life.
Warnings from Rome, Defiance from Germany
Rome’s opposition has remained steadfast. In 2019, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, now Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, cautioned Cardinal Marx that proposals such as lay decision-making power, female ordination, and the relaxation of clerical celibacy were “matters belonging to the universal Church” and “cannot be decided by a local Church.”
Yet defiance persisted. Under Marx and later Bishop Georg Bätzing, the German episcopate continued its reform trajectory, promoting initiatives such as the female diaconate. According to Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni, Marx even voiced hopes for progress on that front during the recent consistory of cardinals—quietly, but unmistakably.
Benedict XVI’s Letter and Silent Pain
Behind these developments lies a poignant, unpublished episode. In 2021, the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI personally wrote to Marx, expressing profound unease with the course of the German Church. “This path will cause harm and end badly if it is not stopped,” Benedict warned. His words, revealed by Spuntoni, now seem prophetic.
Months later, Benedict’s reputation was publicly tarnished in Germany following an abuse report commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich—his own former diocese. Marx, his successor, offered no defense. For many inside the Curia, the episode underscored not only theological division but a rupture of trust.
The Pope’s Dilemma: Intervention or Schism
The looming question now facing Pope Leo XIV is stark: should he intervene directly to suspend or block the Synodal Conference? The Vatican has long feared that Germany’s model could trigger a contagion effect, spreading demands for structural reform throughout the global Church.
Cardinal Mario Grech’s recent report supports decisive papal action, reminding the Curia that “it is always up to the Bishop of Rome, if necessary, to suspend the synodal process.” Yet as Spuntoni cautions, indecision could prove disastrous. Without a firm “no,” the synodal drift in Germany may, as he puts it, “become an avalanche of schism.”
A Nuncio’s Farewell?
Adding to the uncertainty is Eterović himself. According to sources cited by Spuntoni, the nuncio discussed his potential resignation during Friday’s audience, having reached the age of 75. Those close to him describe years of fatigue and disillusionment as Germany’s crisis deepened. Should he step down now, he would leave his post at one of the most sensitive junctures in modern Catholic diplomacy.
As the countdown to Augsburg continues, Benedict’s private warning resounds across Rome: a prophetic reminder that unity, once fractured, is not easily repaired.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Infocatholica
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