- Feb 5, 2002
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Interview with the Chairman of the Federation of German Catholic Youth
Podschun: My expectations of the World Synod are very low
Environmentalist Podschun
Podschun makes an enormous contribution to the life of modernist Catholicism in Germany
The BDKJ federal chairman Gregor Podschun at the Fifth Synodal meeting in Frankfurt
The federal chairman of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Gregor Podschun, is not particularly hopeful about the world synod. In the katholisch.de interview he explains why. He also talks about what keeps him personally in the Catholic Church.
Since Wednesday, the more than 450 representatives of the World Synod in Rome have been meeting behind closed doors. The federal chairman of the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Gregor Podschun, is critical of the lack of openness. In the katholisch.de interview he explains why, in his opinion, it is not the officials in the Catholic Church who feel the greatest pressure.
Question: Mr. Podschun, the World Synod began in Rome on Wednesday. How are you following the discussions there?
Podschun: That's a difficult question because the deliberations themselves are not public. So I don't know exactly what will become public. The only way to get information is therefore through the reports of the German delegation, which of course only shows the debates from a certain perspective, depending on how the representatives feel about the deliberations in Rome. This is a point that I criticize: If I want to include the people of God in a synod - which Pope Francis explicitly wanted - I cannot exclude the believers from the actual deliberations.
Question: The Pope himself justifies the exclusion of the public with more freedom for contributions to the debate on site.
Continued below.
Podschun: My expectations of the World Synod are very low
Environmentalist Podschun
Podschun makes an enormous contribution to the life of modernist Catholicism in Germany
The BDKJ federal chairman Gregor Podschun at the Fifth Synodal meeting in Frankfurt
The federal chairman of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Gregor Podschun, is not particularly hopeful about the world synod. In the katholisch.de interview he explains why. He also talks about what keeps him personally in the Catholic Church.
Since Wednesday, the more than 450 representatives of the World Synod in Rome have been meeting behind closed doors. The federal chairman of the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Gregor Podschun, is critical of the lack of openness. In the katholisch.de interview he explains why, in his opinion, it is not the officials in the Catholic Church who feel the greatest pressure.
Question: Mr. Podschun, the World Synod began in Rome on Wednesday. How are you following the discussions there?
Podschun: That's a difficult question because the deliberations themselves are not public. So I don't know exactly what will become public. The only way to get information is therefore through the reports of the German delegation, which of course only shows the debates from a certain perspective, depending on how the representatives feel about the deliberations in Rome. This is a point that I criticize: If I want to include the people of God in a synod - which Pope Francis explicitly wanted - I cannot exclude the believers from the actual deliberations.
Question: The Pope himself justifies the exclusion of the public with more freedom for contributions to the debate on site.
Continued below.
