Germany: plenary meeting of bishops in Fulda. New forms of poverty, Lutheran Jubilee, Church and the Internet on the agenda

The city of Fulda will be hosting the autumn plenary meeting of the German Bishops Conference (Dbk), at the local bishops’ seminary, from today to Thursday 22^nd September. The 66 German bishops, chaired by the archbishop of Munich-Freising, cardinal Reinhard Marx, will take inspiration from a survey about the challenges of social inclusion conducted by Caritas Germany: “Along with God we hear a cry – poverty and social exclusion as a challenge for the Church and Caritas”. The organisational charts of the 14 commissions and workgroups of Dbk will be renewed until 2021. Items on the agenda, in addition to current pastoral issues and the Catholic involvement in the Lutheran Jubilee Year for the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, will include problems associated with of employment, and the homing and social inclusion of refugees. The situation of the European Union after Brexit, the progressive digitalisation of society, with the Church’s decision to use online social platforms more profitably, and an assessment of the recent WYD of Cracow, will be addressed by the German bishops. One of the highlights of the plenary meeting will be a meeting with the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Erbil, in Iraq, on 20^th September.