German Bishops

A Vatican letter has ruled on a request from the German bishops to allow lay people to preach the homily during Mass The Vatican has rejected a request from the German Bishops’ Conference to permit lay people to preach the homily during Mass. In a letter dated 17 June to Bishop Heiner Wilmer SCJ, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said it was “not possible to grant the indult requested” by the bishops on 30 March. The request sought permission for “a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist” in exceptional circumstances. The decision was made public by the dicastery on 23 June. While expressing appreciation for the pastoral concerns behind the request, the Vatican department said that “the current discipline cannot be dispensed from by means of an indult”. It added: “The reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy.” The dicastery said the homily “forms an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word”, is “intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel”, and “constitutes an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders”. It further stated that “the proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that binds together Word and Sacrament in the Eucharistic celebration”. The Holy See also used the letter to underline the importance of priestly formation, saying that ongoing formation should enable homilies to express their “pastoral and spiritual effectiveness”. At the same time, the dicastery noted that Church law already provides opportunities for lay Catholics to proclaim the Gospel and preach in settings other than the homily during Mass. The statement said: “The Church’s current discipline already provides for numerous forms of proclaiming the Word and preaching that may be entrusted to lay members of the faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist, in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of these different forms of proclaiming the Gospel.” The request was submitted amid continuing discussions in Germany concerning the role of lay people within the life of the Church, with questions relating to lay ministry, governance and preaching featuring prominently in recent years, particularly during the Synodal Way process, which brought together bishops and lay representatives to debate a range of issues affecting the Church in Germany. The preaching of the homily during Mass has long been reserved to bishops, priests and deacons. Canon 767 of the Code of Canon Law states that, among the forms of preaching, “the homily is pre-eminent” and that it is reserved to a priest or deacon. The discipline was reaffirmed in the 1997 Vatican instruction Ecclesiae de Mysterio , issued with the approval of St John Paul II, which stated that the homily “must be reserved to the sacred minister, priest or deacon”, excluding “non-ordained members of the faithful” from preaching it during the Eucharistic celebration. The dicastery’s rejection directly addresses a formal request submitted by the German Bishops’ Conference following its spring plenary assembly, held from 23 to 26 February 2026 in Würzburg. At that meeting, the newly elected conference president, Bishop Heiner Wilmer SCJ, announced that the bishops had discussed and adopted a regulatory framework to govern lay preaching at Mass. The roots of the initiative go back to 10 March 2023, during the final plenary assembly of the Synodal Way in Frankfurt, where participants including bishops and lay delegates approved a text on the proclamation of the Gospel. That text called on the German bishops to “draw up a particular norm and obtain permission from the Holy See” allowing theologically and spiritually qualified lay faithful, commissioned by the bishop, to deliver the homily during Eucharistic celebrations on Sundays and feast days. This is not the first such rejection. After the 2023 Synodal Way vote, Cardinal Arthur Roche, then prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, responded negatively in a detailed letter dated 29 March 2023 to the then president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing. Cardinal Roche rejected the proposal for regular lay preaching in place of the homily at Mass, warning that it could create “misunderstandings about the figure and identity of the priest” in the minds of the faithful. He stressed the inseparability of Word and Sacrament as expressions of sacra potestas conferred by Holy Orders, rather than merely functional tasks, and pointed to Pope Francis’s 2021 expansion of the instituted ministries of lector and acolyte to women and lay people as a more appropriate avenue for lay liturgical involvement. Despite that earlier rejection, the German bishops proceeded with their February 2026 decision to formalise and resubmit the request. The letter is reproduced in full below:

Germany’s bishops are continuing to press Rome on women deacons. Bishop Franz Jung has said that Pope Leo XIV received a “very clear vote in favour” from the country’s episcopal conference following the Katholikentag gathering in Würzburg The German bishops have renewed pressure on Rome to permit women to be ordained as deacons, with Bishop Franz Jung of Würzburg declaring that the country’s episcopal conference had given Pope Leo XIV a “very clear vote in favour of the female diaconate”. Speaking after the conclusion of the Katholikentag in Würzburg, one of Germany’s largest gatherings of Catholic laity and clergy, Bishop Jung said the question of women deacons remained firmly on the agenda of the Church and would not disappear “any time soon”. “We, as the German Bishops’ Conference, have done everything we can,” he told Mainpost.de. “We have very clearly expressed our support in Rome for the diaconate of women. Now it is up to him how things proceed.” The issue of women deacons has become one of the defining fault lines within the global Church in recent years, particularly since the launch of Germany’s Synodal Way in 2019 where German bishops and lay delegates repeatedly backed calls for expanded roles for women, including access to ordained ministries. Pope Francis established two commissions during his pontificate to study the historical question of female deacons in the early Church, but neither resulted in any definitive change. Shortly before his death, Francis authorised the publication of findings from a Vatican study group examining the subject further, although no conclusions were reached on whether women could sacramentally receive the diaconate. Bishop Jung suggested that the election of Pope Leo XIV had not diminished expectations among German bishops that movement might eventually come from Rome. “The issue is on the agenda,” he said, adding that the bishops were now “eager to see what happens”. His intervention came after a Katholikentag heavily focused on questions of Church reform, political engagement and the role of Catholics in German public life. Held under the slogan “Have courage, stand up!”, the gathering drew senior politicians, clergy and lay activists for five days of debates, liturgies and public events across Würzburg. Jung described the event as a success, praising what he called the “joie de vivre and festive spirit” of participants. He said the motto had resonated strongly because it connected with “personal, religious and socio-political” concerns at a time of growing division in society. The event came under criticism after a video of the event appeared to show a woman holding a chalice and reciting the words of consecration while a priest stood behind her. The bishop also defended the organisers’ decision not to invite representatives of the Alternative für Deutschland party, saying the AfD’s “view of humanity does not correspond to the Christian one”. He also pointed to what he described as the party’s “explicitly anti-church stance”. However, the event included other groups and speakers from outside the Church’s traditional structures. The exclusion of the AfD continued the increasingly overt political tone adopted by sections of the German Church hierarchy in recent years, particularly on migration, nationalism and climate policy. Critics, however, argue that Church events have become excessively politicised and risk alienating ordinary Catholics concerned primarily with faith and worship. Bishop Jung rejected those criticisms, insisting that the Katholikentag maintained a balance between political discussion and spiritual life. “Many people come to the Catholic Congress to recharge their spirits and pray together in a large community,” he said, adding that spiritual events during the gathering had been filled to capacity. Among the highlights of the event, he said, was a discussion with former Green Party leader Ricarda Lang on the conference theme of courage and public witness. He also praised a youth prayer service featuring praise, worship and testimonies of faith, saying the enthusiasm of young Catholics had renewed his energy after an exhausting week. The debate surrounding women deacons nevertheless overshadowed much of the wider discussion, continuing the tensions between the German Church and Rome over the direction of reform. The Vatican has consistently distinguished the question of women deacons from the priesthood, but senior cardinals and theologians remain divided over whether historical evidence supports the existence of sacramental female deacons in the early Church. Germany’s bishops have emerged as some of the strongest advocates for change. During sessions of the Synodal Way, delegates repeatedly approved texts calling for women to be admitted to ordained ministries, same-sex blessings and revisions to Catholic teaching on sexuality. The Vatican responded on several occasions with unusually direct interventions. In 2022, the Holy See warned that the Synodal Way had “no authority” to oblige bishops and faithful to adopt new forms of governance or doctrine. A year later, senior German bishops were summoned to Rome for talks over mounting concern about the trajectory of reforms. Yet despite those warnings, bishops such as Jung continue to present the female diaconate as unfinished business within the universal Church. Asked whether he expected Pope Leo XIV to visit Germany in the near future, Jung said he could not say, but added that Würzburg would “certainly roll out the red carpet for him” should such a visit take place.