Two prominent cardinals have called for Germany’s Catholic bishops to be put on trial in a church court for abandoning church doctrine.
It follows a decision by a Synod of German bishops to overwhelmingly approve Church blessings of same sex unions plus weddings between divorced and remarried Catholics.
German Cardinal Gerhard Müller and American Cardinal Raymond Burke urged the Vatican to take action.
They told the Catholic television channel The Eternal Word Television Network that the bishops needed to be held to account.
Cardinal Muller said there must be a trial and they must be sentenced and removed from office if they are not accepting church doctrine.
Premier Christian News reports Cardinal Burke has publicly clashed with Pope Francis previously and is seen as a de facto leader of the church’s conservative wing.
He urged the use of sanctions against the German bishops under the Code of Canon Law.
“Whether it’s a departure, heretical teaching and denial of one of the doctrines of the faith, or apostasy in the sense of simply walking away from Christ and from his teaching in the Church to embrace some other form of religion, these are crimes,” Cardinal Burke maintained.
Roman Catholic commentator Gavin Ashenden told Premier Christian News that it isn’t just German Catholic bishops who are revising church doctrine.
He said there was an issue of what he called “a lack of faith” across Europe.
“This isn’t anything to do with Christianity, actually, it really undermines everything that Christianity stands for. And it’s just amazing that so many Christians have fallen for it,” he said.
