The Catholic Church in Germany is grappling with a worsening financial crisis as dwindling revenues and a historic decline in membership force dioceses to enact sweeping budget cuts.
Newsroom (10 July 2025, Gaudium Press )The Catholic Church in Germany is grappling with a worsening financial crisis as dwindling revenues and a historic decline in membership force dioceses to enact sweeping budget cuts. The Diocese of Limburg, led by Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, reported its first annual deficit of €810,000 ($937,000) in 2024, a harbinger of broader fiscal challenges projected to balloon into a €100 million ($117 million) shortfall by 2035.
The diocese attributed the deficit to “rising personnel and pension costs, a continuing decline in church tax revenues, and the financial consequences of societal megatrends such as demographic change, declining church affiliation, and increasing secularization.” This financial strain is not isolated. The Association of German Dioceses, the legal entity for the German Bishops’ Conference, has mandated €8 million ($9.4 million) in cuts from its €129 million ($151.2 million) budget to achieve balance by 2027.
Only a few years ago, the German Church was flush with funds. Church tax revenue peaked at €6.76 billion ($7.92 billion) in 2019, buoyed by a robust pre-pandemic economy. Yet, even then, a record 272,771 Catholics formally left the Church, exposing structural vulnerabilities now laid bare by economic stagnation and accelerating secularization.
The financial crisis mirrors a stark decline in Catholic practice and membership. In 2024, the number of Catholics in Germany fell below 20 million for the first time, totaling 19,769,237—a drop of 576,000 from the prior year. Catholics now comprise less than a quarter of Germany’s 83.6 million population. More alarmingly, only 6.6% of German Catholics, or roughly 1.3 million, regularly attend Sunday Mass, representing under 2% of the national population. The Church recorded 321,000 formal resignations in 2024, dwarfing the 6,600 new members and readmissions.
Vicar General Father Wolfgang Pax of Limburg stressed a strategic approach to austerity, stating, “Our goal is not to cut with a lawnmower. We want to align budgetary policy decisions with our ecclesiastical mission and strategic goals—with a clear compass in stormy times.”
The crisis unfolds against the backdrop of controversy over the Church’s spending, particularly on the Synodal Way, a polarizing multiyear initiative criticized globally for risking schism. Reports suggest the project may have cost over €5.7 million ($6.7 million) between 2019 and 2022, though Church officials have not confirmed these figures. Such expenditures are especially contentious given the Church’s reliance on state payments and a mandatory church tax—8% to 9% of income tax for registered Catholics—which has long made it one of the world’s wealthiest Catholic institutions.
Beate Gilles, general secretary of the German Bishops’ Conference, acknowledged the gravity of the situation: “The austerity process, which is already running parallel in many dioceses, is unavoidable. There will be hard cuts that are inevitable.” She cautioned that resource constraints would force the Church to scale back support for critical projects.
As Germany’s Catholic Church navigates these turbulent waters, its leaders face the dual challenge of stabilizing finances while addressing the spiritual and cultural shifts driving Catholics away from the pews.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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