In order to protect the freedom of the People of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it would appear necessary to clarify that the “Synodal Way” in Germany does not have the power to compel the bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morals.

Prior to an agreed understanding at the level of the universal Church, it would not be permissible to initiate new official structures or doctrines in the dioceses, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church. As the Holy Father recalled in his Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany: “The universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church. If they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence the need always to ensure that communion with the whole body of the Church is alive and effective” [1[. It is therefore hoped that the proposals of the Way of the Particular Churches in Germany will converge with the synodal path being followed by the universal Church, for mutual enrichment and a testimony of that unity with which the body of the Church manifests its fidelity to Christ the Lord.

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[1] FRANCIS, Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany, 9.