Germany’s top bishop repeats call for female clergy

The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference has admitted that he does not expect to see women priests in the Catholic Church in his lifetime, though he says he also continues to hope for change.

In an interview with the magazine Stern, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, 64, said: “A woman as a priest – will I live to see that? It’s going to be a close call. The road to women’s priesthood is still long. I hope so.”

He added that a female diaconate was a more realistic possibility during his lifetime. While deacons are not permitted to celebrate Mass, they may perform baptisms and assist at weddings. Bätzing suggested that admitting women to this role would mark an important development.

“I rather hope that I will live to see a woman become a deacon,” he said.

The comments form part of a wide-ranging interview in which Bätzing acknowledged the depth of the Church’s crisis in Germany, pointing especially to the shortage of priests.

“Without priests, our sacramental life threatens to dry up; the Church will be hollowed out from within,” he warned. He argued that members of the Church should have a greater role in decision-making, describing this not as a loss but as an “enrichment”.

Bätzing hasrepeatedly spoken in favour of reform since becoming chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference in 2020. He has been a prominent supporter of the German “Synodal Path”, an initiative that has pressed for debate on matters such as the ordination of women, lay participation and sexual morality. The process has drawn sharp criticism from Rome and elsewhere in the universal Church.

Speakingto Stern, he also noted that Pope Leo XIV, since being elected earlier this year, has shown openness to dialogue with German bishops.

“What impressed me is the trust with which he accompanies the Church in Germany,” Bätzing said.

The bishop previously described, during an interview with Weltam Sonntag, how reform to the priesthood is essential if the Church is to respond to contemporary challenges. He has also pointed to declining membership and the continuing impact of the abuse crisis as reasons to rebuild trust.

Bätzing has led the Diocese of Limburg since 2016. Under his leadership he has advocated for wider lay rights, greater inclusivity and what he calls a “Church of open arms”.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II ruled definitively that the Church had no authority to confer priestly ordination on women: “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful,” he wrote in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.

Pope Francis later reiterated this position, telling German Catholics that “there is already a good Protestant Church in Germany; we don’t need a second one”.

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Photo: A portrait of Pope Francis is displayed as German Bishop Georg Bätzing holds a Requiem for the late Pope at St Hedwig's Cathedral, Berlin, Germany, 29 April 2025. (Photo by LISI NIESNER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.)

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