Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop Emeritus of Madrid, has said the Church cannot bow on sacramental issues in light of tensions between Rome and the German Synodal Way.
The comments came as a new lay movement in Germany called on the Pope to stop the creation of a permanent Synodal Conference, in which an equal number of bishops and laity would decide on issues.
In a July 21 interview with the Spanish publication El Debate, Cardinal Rouco Varela said that attempting to interpret authority within the Church in political categories was “not correct”, and that the College of Bishops “is not a kind of parliament”.
