German impatience rises over synodal conference delay

Bishop Heiner Wilmer, chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, said Monday that he hopes the Vatican will approve the statutes for a new national synodal conference by the end of 2026. Speaking to German media on the opening day of a plenary meeting in Fulda, Wilmer noted that there is currently no news and that the conference is waiting for Vatican recognition of the draft statutes.

Wilmer personally submitted the statutes to the Vatican on March 31, 2026, when he handed the document to Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

The proposed synodal conference would serve as a permanent national body in Germany. The idea for this advisory and decision-making group emerged from the synodal way, a process held between 2020 and 2023 that involved bishops and lay people discussing changes to Church teaching and practice.