Overview
- Meeting in Fulda, the Synodaler Ausschuss unanimously approved a statute for the planned Synod Conference.
- The new body is designed for bishops and laypeople to deliberate together and make decisions.
- Membership will comprise 27 diocesan bishops, 27 ZdK representatives, and 27 members elected by the Synodal Assembly, plus two seats for abuse survivors’ advisers and two from the conference of religious superiors.
- Youth groups including the BDKJ welcomed stronger lay participation but criticized the failure to secure binding gender and generational quotas, which will be addressed in the rules of procedure.
- Next steps require adoption by the full assemblies of the German Bishops’ Conference and the ZdK before submission of the statute to the Vatican.