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German lay leader: bar right-wing politicians from Church office

September 07, 2023

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CWN Editor's Note: One of Germany’s most influential lay Catholic leaders has said that all members of a right-wing political party should be barred from offices in the Church.

“Active support for the AfD [Alternative for Germany] contradicts the basic values of Christianity,” said Irme Stetter-Karp, the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). The Zdk has partnered with the German bishops’ conference in organizing the Synodal Path.

The AfD has risen in popularity recently, commanding 21% support in recent opinion polls, with its critical stance on immigration, the European Union, and climate-change policies. Some Catholic members of the party—which is now Germany’s 2nd-largest political party—have also been outspoken critics of the Synodal Path.

Stetter-Karp said that of the AfD that “it clear that anti-Semitic, racist, inhumane attitudes and statements have no place in a Catholic organization.”

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  • Posted by: Randal Mandock - Sep. 08, 2023 2:01 AM ET USA

    Leftists like Irme Stetter-Karp are the violent ones, who through their violence invalidate elections, destroy innocent lives, and deny political and religious freedoms. They are onboard with Francis' neverending denunciation of orthodox Catholics. In the public remarks of some prelates and laymen, political fads such as promotion of practitioners of unnatural vice, embrace of climate-change artists, and elimination of national identities replace personal and corporate avoidance of actual sins.