A women’s strike led by a dissident Catholic group has sparked actions across Germany. The Maria 2.0 group, which uses an image of the Blessed Virgin silenced by a sticking plaster across her mouth (pictured), called for a week-long boycott of Church activities including Mass. Although participation has been patchy, there has been extensive press coverage.
The group’s open letter to Pope Francis, published on Facebook, links the German hierarchy’s response to the sexual abuse crisis with the Church’s opposition to female ordination. It calls for “the removal from office of those who have harmed others in body or spirit, or who have tolerated or covered up for them”. It goes on to call for the admission of women to all offices in the Church, an end to compulsory priestly celibacy and a revision of the Church’s teaching on sexual morality.
