.jpg)
The Catholic Women’s Federation (KFD) of Münster has called for an immediate stop to the planned awarding of the Josef Pieper Prize to U.S. Bishop Robert Barron on 27 July, describing it as a “devastating signal” that honours views which “devalue queer people and deny women the right to freedom of conscience”.
In a detailed statement, the KFD accuses Bishop Barron of repeatedly rejecting “scientific and social understandings of gender diversity outright.” They cite comments on his Word on Fire website, where he labelled efforts to evolve Church teaching on sexuality as “absurd…a categorical error.”
The federation also takes issue with Bishop Barron’s support for President Donald Trump’s ban on medicalised gender transition for children. The statement claims that Trump’s policy has been internationally condemned, despite many countries, including the UK, also issuing bans on the controversial and potentially devastating treatments.
The statement further complains about Bishop Barron’s close relationship with Trump, citing his position on Trump’s “Religious Freedom” commission and his comments that the National Day of Prayer event in Washington was a “high liturgy of our democracy.”
Whilst the KFD claims to support “tolerance of differing positions”, it believes that awarding Bishop Barron the prize would go too far and send a “devastating signal that positions which devalue queer people and deny women the right to freedom of conscience are deemed worthy of honour.”
In defence, the Diocese of Münster reaffirmed the prize as an independent decision by the Josef Pieper Foundation, praising Barron’s adept use of modern media to advance Christian proclamation. The foundation’s director at the Franz-Hitze-Haus, Johannes Sabel, insisted that theological or political conservatism should not preclude recognition, advocating pluralism and robust debate.
The Josef Pieper Prize is an international award established by the Josef Pieper Foundation in Germany to honour individuals whose work embodies the spirit of Pieper’s Thomistic and classical insights.
Josef Pieper was a 20th-century German Catholic philosopher best known for reviving and interpreting Thomistic philosophy for the modern world. Deeply influenced by classical and Christian traditions, Pieper argued for the importance of natural law, virtue, leisure, and the contemplative life in a world increasingly dominated by utilitarianism and relativism.
Bishop Barron is known for his deep love of Thomistic philosophy, attributing his vocation to the 13th-century theologian. Explaining the link, he stated: “When I was a 14-year-old freshman at Fenwick High School, I was privileged to hear from a young Dominican priest the arguments for God’s existence that Thomas Aquinas formulated in the 13th century. I don’t entirely know why, but hearing those rational demonstrations lit a fire in me that has yet to go out. They gave me a sense of the reality of God and thereby awakened in me a desire to serve God, to order my life radically toward him. I’m a priest because of God’s grace, but that grace came to me through the mediation of Thomas Aquinas.”
