The German bishops, too, consider the Pope’s Motu Proprio a contribution to the reconciliation of the Church”, declared Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the German Bishops’ Conference in Freising on 7 July. “The German bishops hope that the new rules will have a unifying effect”. Lehmann expressed this hope with reference to the Catholics who had been separated from the Church as a result of the Second Vatican Council. Lehmann rejected the fears lest the papal provision compromise the decisions of the Council and the validity of the liturgical reform. “Rather, the Pope wishes to underline the fact that no one who wants to live in full union with the Church can exclude a eucharistic celebration according to Paul VI’s postconciliar missal of 1970”. The cardinal also expressed his doubts about the assertion that there’s a growing demand for preconciliar celebrations and corroborated the point by citing the results of a survey on this issue, conducted in the diocese in 2006, according to which “the existing offer is on the whole sufficient”. “In cases in which there do exist consolidated groups that request liturgical celebrations [in Latin] on the basis of the missal of 1962”, he added, “the bishops and parish priests ought to accept these requests in an intelligent way, without ignoring the legitimate needs of the whole community”. Lehmann also pointed out that the preconciliar eucharistic celebration “is only permitted to suitable priests”. Lehmann further announced that during their plenary in August, the bishops would discuss and adopt a detailed code of conduct. This would then be integrated with the Motu proprio which – he said – represents a “framework document that still needs to be fleshed out in detail”. Lastly the cardinal welcomed the Pope’s document, since it means that those who prefer the ancient usage – the Latin mass – are no longer considered as sectaries and expressed his own delight that both liturgical forms can be accorded equal dignity. “In this way the foundations are laid for a reasonable co-existence. We will have to see if the groups that remain loyal to the ancient usage and their priests are willing to celebrate Mass together also in conformity with the missal of Paul VI, as called for by the Pope”. The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK) has also pronounced on the issue. Through its President, Hans Joachim Meyer “it welcomes the fact that the Roman missal promulgated by Paul VI on the basis of Vatican II’s Constitution should continue to be the only ordinary liturgical form of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite”, and hopes that the Motu proprio would have a “conciliatory effect”.
