Amid an ongoing back and forth between the Vatican and the German bishops conference over a controversial new ecclesial body, four of the nation’s prelates have refused to participate in Germany’s national synodal process, opting instead to wait for direction from Rome.

The planning process of the Church in Germany, referred to as the “synodal way”, is considering several of the same issues as Pope Francis’s ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality, launched in 2021 and set to conclude this October with a second Rome-based gathering.

In a statement released on 24 April, Bishop Gregor Maria Franz Hanke of Eichstätt, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg said the proposed German Synodal Council, “as envisaged and formulated in the resolution of the Synodal Way, was not compatible with the sacramental constitution of the Church" and that they wish “to continue on the path to a more synodal Church in harmony with the universal Church”.