Cardinal Marx decries Patriarch Kirill's support of war, weighs in on Synodal Way (Münchner Merkur (German))

In a wide-ranging interview with a Munich daily newspaper, Cardinal Reinhard Marx condemned the Patriarch of Moscow’s support of the invasion of Ukraine, called for a continued generous welcome of refugees in Germany, and defended his diocese’s efforts to address sexual abuse.

“The Pope is open at least to the fact that the [Synodal] Way continues,” Cardinal Marx added. “But he has to keep an eye on the big picture. As bishops, we want to work to ensure that the connection to the path of the whole Church continues to be possible.”

Cardinal Marx said that he sees the issues of priestly celibacy and the ordination of women to the diaconate as important, though ultimately peripheral to the “core of the problem” of people leaving the Church. Referring to himself as a one-time “traditionalist” who opposed altar girls, he mused, “I believe that I myself have developed.”