Masiva operación en Alemania contra decenas de mezquitas «que propagan ideología totalitaria»
(Religión en Libertad).
La madrugada de este miércoles, cientos de efectivos de la policía alemana han realizado una redada coordinada y simultánea en varias ciudades del país, registrando más de 50 mezquitas y propiedades en las que se promocionaba la “revolución islámica” de forma “agresiva y combativa” desde la Asociación Centro Islámico de Hamburgo, filial del régimen iraní.
Televisión pública alemana emite un programa sobre los matrimonios forzados de colegialas musulmanas
(Infocatólica).
La televisión pública germana ZDF ha realizado un reportaje informativo sobre los matrimonios forzados de colegialas musulmanas que se van de vacaciones desde Alemania al país de origen de su familia.
(Domradio).
It is legal: Anyone who holds extremist views is not allowed to participate in the parish committees in the diocese. The Catholic Council also has an argumentative tool against right-wing extremism in the pipeline.
Will Cologne soon no longer be the largest German diocese?
(Raimund Neuss. Kolonie Rundschau).
Even if the number of the person was abandoned, the native population had a disminuir: in the last years the number of the children in the Archdiocese of Colonia was reduced to around 380,000.
Un experto alemán en marketing: la Iglesia «espanta» a su público para agradar al que la desprecia
(Carmelo López-Arias. Religión en Libertad).
Cada año, la Iglesia alemana pierde cientos de miles de fieles y disminuyen, en porcentajes muy superiores a otros países europeos, los bautizos, las comuniones, los matrimonios… Los responsables del “camino sinodal alemán” (el establishment eclesial, obispos incluidos salvo cuatro) lo atribuyen a la propia doctrina católica, que alejaría a quienes no quieren vivirla; de ahí los intentos de modificarla al gusto de la cultura dominante.
(CNA).
With regard to the topic of artificial intelligence and war, Augsburg’s auxiliary bishop Anton Losinger has called for a “technology that complies with human rights and human dignity.”
Abbot Schröder: Redefining the office of bishop makes sense
(Katholisch).
Retired bishops are constantly speaking out and justifying their views with their responsibility as successors to the apostles. Abbot President Jeremias Schröder criticizes such behavior and points out possible changes with regard to the office.
(CNA. Rudolf Gehrig)
A few weeks ago it was announced that Pope Francis had appointed the former Prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, as Nuncio to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. On the sidelines of the “Benedict XVI Forum” in the Bavarian Marian pilgrimage site of Altötting, EWTN News spoke with Pope Benedict XVI’s former private secretary at the weekend about his new tasks in the Baltic States and about the legacy of the German Pope ( here is the interview as a video ).
Is Germany’s church tax ‘miracle’ over?
(Luke Coppen. The Pillar).
Each year, the journalist Peter Winnemöller noted, hundreds of thousands of people formally left the Catholic Church in Germany. But year after year, church tax income continued to grow. But what Winnemöller facetiously called the “Kirchensteuerwunder” — the church tax miracle — may be over. The German bishops’ conference announced July 8 that church tax revenue was 6.51 billion euros (around $7 billion) in 2023. That’s a lot, of course, but it marked a 5% drop on the year before, when church tax income was a record 6.84 billion euros (roughly $7.4 billion). What exactly is the church tax? How is the so-called miracle even possible? And is it truly coming to an end?
(CNA).
During the so-called Great Procession, Münster Bishop Felix Genn spoke of an “almost frightening” political situation in the world. Against this background, it is important to work to preserve democracy.
(Religión Digital. José Manuel Vidal).
(Katholisch).
For the first time, the Catholic city deanery of Cologne is taking part in the program for more rights for sexual minorities around Christopher Street Day. Among other things, a panel discussion entitled “God meets Gays” is planned, as the deanery announced on Wednesday in Cologne . There will also be a film screening and a stage program. The drag artists Cassy Carrington and Julie Voyage are also taking part.
(Katholisch).
The former Vatican auditor, Libero Milone , has described the death of Cardinal George Pell as “shrouded in mystery”. “At his funeral, at his coffin, I promised him that we would bring the truth to light,” Milone said, according to a report in the newspaper “The Australian” on Wednesday (local time). The economic expert thus suggests a connection between Pell’s death and the real estate scandal in the Vatican. According to research by the Australian media, there were rumors in the Vatican for months about the last hours of Pell’s life because of the unusual handling of his body. After the autopsy, it was said that it was not prepared, as is usually the case, but was left “in disarray”. After a routine hip joint operation on January 10, 2023 in Rome’s Salvator Mundi Hospital, the Australian former Curia cardinal died as a result of complications.
(José Lorenzo. Religión digital).
Piden que salvaguarden la democracia y congelen los fondos a los Estados que la pongan en peligro.
La Conferencia Episcopal Alemana ha publicado hoy la declaración Ideas orientadoras para la política de la Unión Europea, un completo y poco complaciente análisis sobre los retos a los que se enfrente en estos momentos el proyecto común europeo -sueño en el que colaboraron decisivamente políticos y pensadores cristianos- y que lleva la rúbrica del Grupo de Trabajo Episcopal para Europa, presidido por el obispo de Essen, Franz-Josef Overbeck.
(InfoCatolica. Staff).
Desde 2018, Andreas Kersten, un farmacéutico de Berlín, afronta problemas legales por negarse a vender la «píldora del día después» por motivos de conciencia. El 26 de junio de 2024, el Tribunal Administrativo Superior de Berlín-Brandeburgo lo absolvió de la acusación de incumplimiento del deber profesional, rechazando la apelación de la Cámara de Farmacéuticos, a la que obligó a asumir las costas del procedimiento. Sin embargo, la sentencia es un ataque precisamente a la objeción de conciencia. A pesar de que la sentencia es absolutoria para Kerste, al mismo tiempo, pone en entredicho la libertad de conciencia de los farmacéuticos de Berlín, según advirió en un comunicado la organización de derechos humanos «Alliance Defending Freedom» (ADF). En la sentencia oral, el presidente del tribunal explicó que la «píldora del día después» era un medicamento autorizado, que no existía un «derecho de inspección» para los farmacéuticos y que la libertad de conciencia individual estaba subordinada al deber de asistencia. Un farmacéutico que no pudiera conciliar la dispensación de determinados preparados con su conciencia tendría que abandonar su profesión. Tras la sentencia, el farmacéutico Kersten declara:
(Kath.net).
Courtalain (kath.net) kath.net documents the sermon of Gerhard Cardinal Müller on Saturday, June 29, Peter and Paul in full in the original German. The Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordained five candidates as deacons and two deacons as priests in Courtalain near Chartres. He explained to kath.net verbatim: “I have complied with this request to confer these ordinations because of the sacrament of ordination itself, not because of the form of the extraordinary rite, because the two ritual variants of the Latin rite are secondary to the substance of the sacrament instituted by Christ and effective in the Holy Spirit. (This is just to explain two opposing false positions). This is explained in more detail in the text.”
(CNA. AC Wimmer).
Just one day after the news that hundreds of thousands of Catholics left the Church in Germany in 2023, the Vatican met with representatives of the German Synodal Way to discuss the controversial plans for a permanent synodal council.
The meeting on Friday resulted in Rome demanding the Germans change the name of the body and agree it cannot have authority over — or be equal to — the bishops’ conference, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
(Katholisch)
Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx is concerned about the European Union (EU). This peace project is threatened by “ethnic nationalism,” warned the Archbishop of Munich and Freising on Sunday evening during a service in Munich’s St. Boniface Basilica. The service was held in memory of the journalist Fritz Gerlich (1883-1934), who was murdered in the Dachau concentration camp 90 years ago.
(Katholisch)
German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has been promoted from cardinal deacon to cardinal priest. On Monday, the consistory led by Pope Francis decided to elevate Müller to the class of cardinal priest upon his request, the Vatican announced . Müller’s titular deaconry, Sant’Agnese in Agone, will be temporarily elevated to a titular church during his term of office (“pro hac vice”). After ten years in office, cardinal deacons have the right to ask the Pope for elevating them to cardinal priest and for a titular church (“optatio”). Müller was admitted to the College of Cardinals on February 22, 2014. Following his retirement as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Müller is now a judge at the Apostolic Signatura , the Church’s highest court.
(AP News).
Another 400,000 people formally left the Catholic Church in Germany last year, though the number was down from a record set in 2022 as church leaders struggle to put a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy behind them and tackle calls for reform, official figures showed Thursday. The German Bishops’ Conference said that 402,694 people left the church in 2023. That was down from 522,821 the previous year, but still the second-highest figure so far. At the same time, 1,559 people joined the church and another 4,127 rejoined — in both cases, broadly similar to the numbers from 2022. In Germany, people who are formally members of a church pay a so-called church tax that helps finance it in addition to the regular taxes the rest of the population pays. If they register their departure with local authorities, they no longer have to pay that. There are some exemptions for low earners, jobless, retirees, students and others.