Overview

• After a private audience at the Vatican, Frank‑Walter Steinmeier praised Pope Leo XIV as a rare global interlocutor and urged him to keep offering mediation in conflicts.
• Steinmeier said the Pope shares the assessment that Russia currently shows no readiness for talks on Ukraine, though the Holy See remains willing to host negotiations.
• German bishops opened their Fulda assembly with Georg Bätzing asserting no clash between Rome’s recent signals and the Synodal Path, calling for calm dialogue with the wider Church.
• Bätzing confirmed the bishops’ handout on blessings for same‑sex couples will stay in place, even as the Pope has ruled out ritualized ceremonies and doctrinal changes for now.
• ZdK president Irme Stetter‑Karp criticized the Pope’s stance on LGBTQ issues and pressed for concrete inclusion measures, as reporting highlighted membership losses and tightening church budgets in Germany.