Austrian bishops to discuss withdrawn appointment, exodus from Church

March 04, 2009

The Catholic bishops of Austria will meet next week at Innsbruck to discuss the recent furor over the nomination of a controversial auxiliary bishop for the Linz diocese (a nomination that has now been withdrawn) and the continuing decline in practice among the country's Catholics. A spokesman for the Linz diocese has denied that Bishop Ludwig Schwarz was summoned to Rome to explain the angry public resistance to the Pope's selection of Father Gerhard Maria Wagner as auxiliary bishop; in fact, the spokesman said, the bishop made the trip to confer with Vatican officials on how best to calm the protests. Bishop Schwarz said that the diocese should now put the controversy behind and concentrate on recovering unity-- a unity that was not in evidence when 31 out of 35 deans refused to accept the Pope's nomination.

 

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Further information:

• Bishops to address crisis in church (Austrian Times)