Vatican City, Jul 30, 2020 / 04:45 am
A Vatican cardinal has invited German bishops to Rome to discuss their criticisms of a new instruction on parishes.
Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, said July 29 that he would be happy to receive the bishops in order to "remove doubts and perplexity," the German Catholic news agency KNA reported.
Stella said that the meeting could take place "in due course" if the bishops wished to present their objections to the instruction, issued by his congregation July 20. He reportedly declined to respond to specific criticisms ahead of the potential meeting.
He made the comments after several German bishops sharply criticized the document, "The pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church," which underlined that according to canon law only priests can direct the pastoral care of parishes.