Front-row Vatican coverage:

Renardo Schlegelmilch

Renardo Schlegelmilch is editor-in-chief for DomRadio.de in Cologne, Germany's largest Catholic radio station. He regularly reports from Germany and the Vatican.

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A young man with an AfD bag reading, "The East does it," attends a campaign rally of the far-right Alternative for Germany party in Suhl in the German state of Thuringia Aug. 13. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

How German Catholics are struggling with rising right-wing extremism

Many in Germany, including Catholic leaders, have spoken up against the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD. The party recently won around 30% of votes in three German state elections.

People attend the German Catholic Church's fifth synodal assembly in Frankfurt March 9, 2023. (OSV News/Reuters/Heiko Becker)

Germany's Synodal Path faces backlash from the outside and inside

It's not just conflict with Rome that is making life hard for German reformers right now. Conservatives as well as reformers have taken a critical stance toward the ongoing Synodal Path, for very different reasons.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein arrives at the Vatican Jan. 10, 2023. (CNS/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

Archbishop Gänswein, Germany's most controversial Catholic prelate, remains unemployed

Time will tell if rumors about Archbishop Georg Gänswein getting a new job as a Vatican ambassador are true, writes Renardo Schlegelmilch. For now the former secretary to Pope Benedict XVI remains in Germany, and unemployed.

Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics and co-chair of the Synodal Path, and Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops' conference, attend the fifth synodal assembly in Frankfurt March 9, 2023. (OSV News/Reuters/Heiko Becker)

Vatican, German Catholic bishops compromise on Synodal Path — for now

After months of tension between the Vatican and leaders in the German Catholic Church, both sides seem to have reached a compromise about the Synodal Path — for now. 

Benedictine Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel, leader of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem's Old City (Courtesy of Dormition Abbey Jerusalem)

Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem prepares for a very different kind of Easter

Holy Week in Jerusalem this year "will be very quiet," says Benedictine Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel, whose monastery is in financial peril in a Christian community that also faces increasing attacks by religious extremists.

Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics and co-chair of the Synodal Path, and Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops' conference, attend the fifth synodal assembly March 9 in Frankfurt. (OSV News/Reuters/Heiko Becker)

Pope Francis writes a letter to four German women — and surprises almost everyone

It's no secret that the German Catholic Church's reform project is a thorn in Pope Francis' side, writes commentator Renardo Schlegelmilch. But Francis' latest letter on the subject came as a surprise for just about everyone.

Members of the German bishops' conference pray before the tomb of St. Paul Nov. 17, 2022, during an "ad limina" visit to Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. (CNS/Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Daniela Elpers)

Why Germany's Catholic bishops keep trying to resign — and mostly fail

Why do so many German bishops want to leave office? The story goes deeper than you might think.

Two men light votive candles in a church.

Germany's Catholic Church approved blessings for same-sex couples. Is this a revolution?

Same-sex blessings and other reforms won't start immediately in German parishes. But the decisions of the country's Catholic bishops will have consequences far beyond Germany.

This is a general view of the second Synodal Assembly in Frankfurt, Germany, in this Oct. 1, 2021, file photo. (CNS/KNA/Julia Steinbrecht)

Is the threat of schism between the German bishops and the Vatican real?

Commentary: A statement published through official Holy See channels warned Germany's "Synodal Path" reform project against breaking with the universal church. Tensions are rising: Is the threat of schism real?

The second session of Germany's Synodal Assembly, delayed because of COVID-19, is scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Participants are seen in this file photo at the Dominican monastery in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 31, 2020. (CNS/KNA/Harald Oppitz)

What America should understand about Germany's Synodal Path

Commentary: The Synodal Path, established unanimously by the German bishops' conference, cannot provide binding resolutions, neither on Catholic teaching for Germany (as some fear) nor on anything at all, as every decision must be ratified by each bishop for his own diocese.

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