Catholic reformers in Germany are calling for the Church opening-up processes, initiated by Pope Francis, to continue after his death.
“Over the past 12 years, Pope Francis has, against all opposition, especially within the Vatican, changed the Roman Catholic Church more fundamentally than many expected,” the We Are The Church group announced in Munich on Monday.
With the worldwide participation of the church grass-roots in synods and voting rights broadened to include not only bishops, Francis had initiated a “turning point in church history” that would hopefully prove irreversible, they said hours after the pontiff’s death.
“His reform course must be continued even more intensively by his successor and by all of us,” the group said in its statement.
Francis died on Easter Monday morning at the age of 88.