European Central: The German Church’s Reforms Could Inject Religion Into Politics

Joshua Kettle

Pope Leo XIV has continued his predecessor’s progressive reforms, and his attempts to foster unity between both liberal and conservative Catholics has gone fairly well so far. But Leo’s continuation of Francis’ reforms has caused a row amongst German clergy.

Some bishops have embraced the Pope’s reforms regarding LGBTQIA+ acceptance, but many others have delayed or even ignored the reforms agreed upon over the past few years. This butting of heads not only impacts the legacies of both Pope Leo and Pope Francis, but it also may have downstream effects on German politics. 

While long having been a largely secular affair, religion in German politics may begin to play a more important role as time goes on, and parties like the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) are eyeing an alliance of convenience with radical Christians.

The Roadblock On The Synodal Path

One of the main issues at hand in the Catholic community relates to a pair of recent reforms, and their conflicting nature. First is the Fiducia Supplicans, a 2023 document from the Vatican's doctrinal office, that effectively allowed Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. The document essentially introduced the possibility of blessing same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing Church teaching on marriage. 

At the time, Pope Francis implemented the change to make the Church more welcome to all, but it was seen as controversial by many conservatives who saw it as an invitation to a schism in the church. Leo has tried to balance both sides, but also expressed skepticism at the prospect of any doctrinal change anytime soon. 

The other recent reform that has ignited tension in German Catholic communities has been the Synodal Way (or Synodality), a 2019-2023 series of conferences focused on reforms to make the Church more inclusive in Germany. The Church at the time had been rocked by sexual abuse scandals, a historic low of only 29 new priests being in 2024, and nearly 321,000 German Catholics leaving the Church that year. 

Leo’s ascension to the papacy spurred optimism in the German Church’s 150 pages of resolutions pushing for women deacons and a revision of the Church’s stance on homosexuality, and after the conclusion of the 2023 conference, 15 resolutions covering issues including the blessing of same-sex civil partnerships were quickly passed. 

The issue right now lies in the growing pushback against both of these reforming documents, the extent to which they conflict with each other, and where the reforms overstep their authorities. The practice of blessing same-sex couples without explicitly going against Church teachings on marriage has been applied in only about half of the 27 dioceses, with the other half either rejecting or delaying the reforms endorsed by the Synodal Way.

In a September interview, Leo disapproved of bishops in Northern Europe ritualising the blessing same-sex couples, which he believes oversteps the parameters of the Fiducia Supplicans. 

German reactions to Leo’s comments were mixed. Many activist groups expressed disapproval, and theologians worry Leo’s middle-ground stance is “a squaring of the circle for many in this country.” Others were more positive, such as Thomas Söding, Vice President of the liberal-leaning Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). 

That being said, the ZdK president has also accused bishops of stalling church reforms ahead of the final assembly of the Synodal Path in January 2026, and this tug-of-war between the Vatican reforms and German priests has an extensive recent history, with the Vatican in 2022 demanding that German bishops pledge to respect canon law and to give the Holy See a final say over any proposed reforms. 

Separation Of Church And State: Another Firewall Breached?

So, what does this dispute in German Catholicism mean for German politics? On the surface, the two seem fairly separated. Germans have continued to leave the church in droves over the years, and in April a report found that for the first time in modern German history, more Germans identify as religiously unaffiliated than as Roman Catholics or Protestants (47% versus 45% of Germany). Historically, these denominations were once dominant in Germany.

However, German politicians are still fairly religious, with over a quarter of parliamentarians identifying as Catholics, the largest religious group in the Bundestag. Additionally, while the  Christian Democratic bloc (CDU/CSU) is vastly more focused on economic liberalism than religion when it comes to its policies, it still holds a plurality in the Bundestag. 

Now, with the issue of LGBTQIA+ marriage and the church rearing its head again in Germany, this opportunity for the CDU/CSU to capitalize on some of the uproar may incentivize it to further court the far-right AfD.

Historically, the CDU/CSU has benefited from keeping the further-right parties tied to them. Additionally, while only 13.2% of the AfD’s MPs identify as Catholic, the party often evokes Christianity as a way to boost national identity against both Islam and immigration. In fact, there is a burgeoning alliance between the AfD and many disaffected Christians in Germany. 

Prominent AfD politicians like Beatrix von Storch have argued that Germany is undergoing a “de-Christianization”, and she has railed against the queer community from a faith point of view. These sentiments, while not yet widespread amongst the largely secular AfD base, have caused the German Church to position itself explicitly against the party. 

With LGBTQIA+ issues rising again in Germany, this last summer the nation saw a wave of 17 anti-Pride events organized by far-right groups, and the the new president of the German parliament, CDU member Julia Klöckner, said the rainbow flag will no longer be raised on top of the Bundestag during Pride month. 

There already has been some cooperation between the AfD and the CDU on proposals involving migration and asylum, and the AfD has also been trying to rebrand pride month as Stolzmonat, with a focus on the traditional family and national pride. However, there is a catch in the form of Alice Wiedel, the AfD’s openly gay leader, but some analysts see her leadership as an attempt at normalizing the AfD’s image after years behind the famed German Firewall. 

With policies aligning on LGBTQIA+ issues, and the CDU knowing it benefits from AfD support, which holds more than 20% of the seats in the Bundestag, an alliance of convenience based on religion is a rising possibility. While the left wing of German politics are increasingly attracting religious voters, in part due to the German Church’s reforms, there may be a further incentive for the AfD and CDU to more staunchly entrench their politics in a conservative Christian identity. 

Finally, the electoral power of religion has been fully on display in America with Trump’s broad evangelical base zealously backing him. The AfD has actively courted the Trump administration, and it is well known just how financially powerful American evangelicals can be, with Pope Leo even trying to curry favor.

If embracing religion and Christian values more than they already have can help secure their political power, it is not a stretch to believe that the AfD or the CDU would be willing to capitalize on the turmoil over the German church’s liberal reforms. Additionally, tying controversial social policies to religion to downplay their views would tie into the AfD’s campaign to normalize itself on the national stage. 

That being said, neither the AfD nor the CDU/CSU would have a majority of German Catholics on their side, given the relative acceptance by many bishops of the Synodal Way. Additionally, embracing religion could backfire for the AfD by alienating the religious community in Germany and either further pushing it to the left or accelerating the growth of secularism in the nation. 

But if religion is injected into German politics by conservatives to win support and supplement their already Christian rhetoric, then the existential right and wrong of religion is injected alongside it. And when that gets involved in politics, polarization rises, and religious leaders often lose a foothold to speak on important public issues such as LGBTQIA+ rights, meaning political parties can then pick up the moral baton with religion at their back.