Pope Leo XIV Meets German Nuncio as Bishops Prepare Synodal Conference Vote

Previously undisclosed 2021 letter shows Benedict XVI warned Cardinal Marx the German synodal path would “end badly.”

(Photo credit: CNS)

ROME, 17 January 2026 — Pope Leo XIV met Friday with the apostolic nuncio to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterović, amid reports that their talks focused on the German bishops’ planned vote to establish a permanent Synodal Conference that would grant laypeople decision-making authority equal to bishops, allow doctrinal changes by majority vote, and place Church finances under shared control.

Writing in Il Giornale this morning, Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni said it is “inevitable” that the Pope’s meeting with his nuncio to Germany would be “dominated by the imminent vote of the German Bishops’ Conference on the Statutes of the Synodal Conference.”

The vote is scheduled for the bishops’ plenary assembly Feb. 19–22 in Augsburg.

It follows a Nov. 22 meeting in Fulda, where bishops and lay representatives unanimously approved the statutes for a permanent national synodal body composed of bishops, representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), and other lay Catholics.

The Holy See had warned as early as 2019 that such matters exceed the competence of any local Church, yet German bishops — led by the former and current presidents of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx and Bishop Georg Bätzing — have persisted, even promoting proposals such as the female diaconate.

Indeed, several sources told Spuntoni that Cardinal Marx intervened at last week’s extraordinary consistory of cardinals to express the hope of moving toward a female diaconate — in practice, if not formally or in writing.

His article also reveals that Benedict XVI privately expressed grave concern in a 2021 letter to Marx, fearing the synodal path would “do harm and end badly” if not stopped — advice that went unheeded.

Pope Leo XIV now faces the question of how and whether to intervene, amid concerns that the German initiative could escalate into a schism within the universal Church.

In comments this evening, Spuntoni said that during today’s meeting “the nuncio also spoke to the Pope about his resignation upon reaching the age of 75. The decision rests with the Pope, but those who know him say the nuncio has suffered because of the situation of recent years and would prefer that his resignation be accepted.”

Below is an English translation of the article, published with the kind permission of the author.

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Schism in Berlin, Leo’s High-Stakes Game

By Nico Spuntoni

The German nuncio meets the Pope. Unpublished letter from Ratzinger to Cardinal Marx.

Germany is where the most explosive dossier Leo XIV inherited from Francis is being played out. Neither the Jubilee year nor the conclave has halted what Cardinal Gerhard Müller has defined as the “process of Protestantization” of the Catholic Church in Germany. And while Rome has so far bided its time in the face of the continual steps forward from beyond the Rhine, now the knots are coming to a head.

In the coming hours the Pope is expected to receive Archbishop Nikola Eterović, apostolic nuncio to Berlin. It is inevitable that the conversation will be dominated by the imminent vote of the German Bishops’ Conference on the Statute of the Synodal Conference.

This is a project, already approved by the highly powerful Central Committee of German Catholics, that will give rise to a permanent body in which lay people will be placed on an equal footing with bishops. This Synodal Conference will have decision-making power and will be able to introduce changes to doctrine by majority vote, forcing those who dissent to provide a public justification. Moreover, the Conference will take over the management of the financial resources of the extremely wealthy German Church.

All this is exactly what the Holy See feared would happen in 2019, when the contested Synodal Path was launched in Germany and the current prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, wrote to the then head of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, warning that issues such as ordained ministries for women, the separation of powers between laity and clergy, and priestly celibacy “do not concern the Church in Germany but the universal Church and, with few exceptions, cannot be the object of deliberations or decisions by a particular Church.”

Over these years the German bishops have repeatedly ignored Rome’s warnings. Their objective, however, appears to go further and would seek to trigger a German “contagion” in the rest of the Church. This is demonstrated by the recent consistory in the Vatican in which — as we can reveal — Cardinal Marx intervened to express the hope of arriving very soon at the female diaconate. The cardinal is the principal architect of the German synodal process and has retained his leadership even after being replaced at the head of the Bishops’ Conference.

Today Il Giornale can reveal an unprecedented episode involving Marx: in 2021, in fact, Benedict XVI made himself heard by his successor as Archbishop of Munich and Freising to express his “great concern” about the synodal process in Germany. Vatican sources confirm to us that in his final years Ratzinger was deeply skeptical about the direction taken by the German Church and was convinced that “this Path will do harm and will end badly if it is not stopped.” Marx ignored the appeal of the Pope emeritus, who a few months later was heavily discredited in his homeland because of a report on abuses commissioned precisely by the Archdiocese of Munich, without being defended by his successor in office.

Now it is Leo XIV’s turn. He receives support from the report presented by Cardinal Mario Grech to the consistory, which states that “it always belongs to the Bishop of Rome, if necessary, to suspend the synodal process.” Prevost shares Benedict XVI’s misgivings, but if he does not have the strength to say “no” to the Synodal Conference project, the risk is that the German landslide may become, for the universal Church, an avalanche called schism.