Vatican cardinal seems to compare German church reform plans to Nazi theology

The German Catholic Church’s reform process is again under fire from the Holy See, with a Vatican cardinal seemingly comparing its proposals for theological development to the thinking that sustained Germany's Nazi era.

The furore launched by Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, who heads the Holy See's office for Christian unity, marks the latest criticism of the German attempt to pursue reforms as a response to the clergy sex abuse scandal and the haemorrhaging of the Catholic faithful, The Times of Israel reports.

Koch suggested in an interview with the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost last week that the German reform process was seeking to introduce new sources of divine revelation, beyond Scripture and Christian tradition, to justify the theological change.

He said it was the same thing some pro-Nazi Protestants did when they "saw God's new revelation in blood and soil and in the rise of Hitler".

His comments sparked outrage among German bishops who, along with the German Catholic laity, are pursuing a long-term reform process known as the Synodal Path. Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing, the head of the German bishops' conference, demanded that Koch retract the statement but the cardinal refused. The two met on October 4 at the Vatican on a previously scheduled visit.

In a statement on October 5, the German conference said Koch assured Baetzing that he didn't intend to compare the current process to the Nazi era.

"Cardinal Koch apologised to anyone who felt offended by the comparison he made," the conference said in a statement. It said Koch and Baetzing agreed that "the theological debate the cardinal wanted to contribute to in the interview must be continued".