Whoever, being a bishop, dispenses the faithful from living according to the faith, has abandoned Christianity. A guest comment by Martin Grichting.
Pope Leo the Great impressively told the faithful of his time: «Christian, recognize your dignity. You have participated in the divine nature; do not return to the old misery nor live below your dignity». The current canon law says the same in the CIC, can. 209: «The faithful are obliged to maintain communion with the Church at all times, even in their personal conduct».
No bishop has the right to dispense from this. Nor can the Pope do so, because otherwise he would dissolve the Church. However, the bishops of Germany have dispensed their lay collaborators from living according to what they are. To do this, they modified the «Basic Regulation of Ecclesiastical Service» of November 22, 2022. In the new Art. 7, par. 2, regarding lay personnel and the relevance of their personal life for their employment by the Church, it now reads: «The nuclear sphere of the organization of private life, in particular affective life and the intimate sphere, is excluded from legal evaluations». Thus, one can cohabit before or outside of marriage, be civilly divorced and remarried, live polyamorous, polygamous, or same-sex relationships: none of this is relevant for being hired by the Church. Nevertheless, they are allowed to teach and proclaim in the name of the Church. All German dioceses have incorporated it into their own law. With this, the German bishops have gravely violated their obligations. Because in CIC, can. 392, it says: «§ 1. Since he must safeguard the unity of the universal Church, the bishop is obliged to promote the common discipline of the whole Church and therefore to urge the observance of all ecclesiastical laws. § 2. He must take care that no abuse is introduced into ecclesiastical discipline, especially with regard to the ministry of the word, the celebration of the sacraments and sacramentalia, the worship of God and the saints, as well as the administration of goods».
In Switzerland, the dioceses are not usually the civil employers, as is the case in Germany. This task is assumed by the so-called «ecclesiastical communities» and «national churches», parallel structures created by the State. On December 4, 2025, the «National Church» of Zurich, the financially strongest in Switzerland, adapted its «Employment Regulations». Regarding lay personnel, it states from now on in § 4a: «For employment in the proclamation service, the nuclear sphere of the organization of private life remains without consideration. Affective life, sexual orientation, and lifestyle, in particular the intimate sphere, are excluded from legal evaluations and do not constitute employment criteria». The Bishop of Chur, Msgr. Joseph M. Bonnemain, in whose territory the canton of Zurich is located, previously gave his approval to this dispensation for ecclesiastical collaborators regarding living according to the sixth commandment. For his alter ego, the vicar general responsible for Zurich, Canon Luis Varandas, declared to the «National Church» that he was «in agreement with the present partial revision of the employment regulations».
A Church that no longer wants to require its collaborators to live according to God’s commandments has capitulated. And it is clear: if something no longer applies to collaborators, it does not apply to the faithful in general either. In Germany and in the canton of Zurich, compliance with the sixth commandment is therefore optional. The background to this capitulation of the Church in German-speaking countries is the church tax system. Maintaining this system seems to require, according to the bishops, that the Church submit to the dominant thinking of society. To remain majority accepted, the Church must hide or even deny everything that offends post-Christians and could endanger the enjoyment of ecclesiastical privileges.
The Pope remained publicly silent regarding the modification of the Basic Regulation of 2022 in Germany. In the case of the previous Pope, this is not surprising. What Pope Leo XIV thinks to do is not known. In any case, he must bear in mind that silence equals consent. And the lack of action so far has the consequence that other parts of the universal Church also become infected, as can now be seen in Switzerland.
The action in Germany and now in the diocese of Chur offers yet another lesson. In both countries, the clergy are excluded from the dispensation to live according to the sixth commandment (Basic Regulation Art. 7, par. 2, sentence 4; Employment Regulations, § 4a, sentence 2). From a civil law perspective, this is arbitrariness, discrimination. It remains to be seen when this issue gains relevance before state courts. From a theological perspective, the distinction made by the bishops is revealing. It implies that the sacrament of marriage obliges less than the sacrament of holy orders. Or, put another way: the laity are second-class. If they do not live as they should, this is irrelevant. This is a new form of clerical class consciousness. Clericalism is celebrated precisely by bishops who normally frown upon it.
Regarding Switzerland, the story is not over yet: on November 17, 2025, the Episcopal Conference published a non-binding document titled: «Determination of the situation on the practice in Swiss dioceses in view of the relationship between the episcopal mission and the life of priests and deacons, male and female pastoral agents». Perhaps because under Pope Leo XIV they no longer feel so secure, perhaps also because Switzerland includes French- and Italian-speaking areas where many priests and laity still follow the universal Church, this document does not go as far as the German Basic Regulation of 2022. In the search for a compromise between Church doctrine and what the bishops of German-speaking Switzerland desire by imitating the Church in Germany, recourse has been made to the Bergoglian «individual» case. With this, the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage was practically abolished, by allowing now—whoever with whomever and on whatever theological basis— to undergo a «spiritual discernment». This leads, in an almost miraculous way, to those who are divorced and civilly remarried being able to receive the Eucharist with a good conscience. Because there are arguments for everything. The old Jesuit probabilism provides excellent service here. A doctrine for all has existed only on paper since then, but not in reality. There, only individual cases are found.
This method is now being applied by the Swiss bishops to the living situation of lay collaborators. The second Bergoglian principle is not forgotten in this, according to which irregular unions also contain positive elements that should be valued in a «discernment». The bishops write: «The Magisterium of Pope Francis has highlighted that people in couples and family forms that do not correspond to Catholic tradition and doctrine realize values that deserve respect and recognition». (The mafia also lives social cohesion and cares diligently for the well-being of its members, which are undoubtedly values that deserve our respect and recognition). From these premises, the Swiss bishops arrive at the conclusion that each living situation of a collaborator is «unique». Therefore, with regard to living situations, «one can only act evangelically in a just manner if they are considered integrally. Two people can do the same thing, and it is not the same». In the ecclesial parallel universe, two plus two is no longer four. This alternative fact must be taken seriously and appreciated. This post-factual understanding of truth also fits that the aforementioned Bishop of Chur, as vice-president of the Episcopal Conference, supports the document that promotes the tactic of the individual case. At the same time, he declares that in Zurich the individual case does not count. There, the lifestyle of lay personnel is in principle irrelevant.
As a criterion for the episcopal oracle of «discernment» of the individual case, «the personal willingness to gradually adapt one’s own situation to the light of the Gospel» is indicated. In the case of a heterosexual couple living in concubinage, this could be a criterion, since a marriage could be aspired to. But how can a person civilly remarried be a little less married civilly each day? And how could a same-sex couple be a little more heterosexual each day?
Does anyone seriously believe that people in a post-Christian society will revise their opinions because the Church declares a part of its doctrine on faith and morals optional? On the contrary: they must come to the conviction that the Catholic Church has finally overcome its modernity deficit and now sings in unison with the post-Christians. The autonomous adoption of what applies in the majority society has been the policy of Protestant religious communities for 200 years. They cannot be reproached for it: they have no Pope.