German Catholic Church Gets Political

Catholic bishops in Germany declared the right-wing political party Alternative für Deutschland as unelectable for Christians at a February 22 meeting in Augsburg. Considering the church’s recent restraint from political commentary, the move is unusual.

In a joint statement, the bishops declared:

Right-wing extremist parties and those that run rampant on the fringes of this ideology can therefore not be a place of political activity for Christians and are also not electable.

Political once again: The head of the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said the declaration was adopted unanimously by the 60 bishops. For the past 25 years, Catholic bishops have largely refrained from any assessments of political parties.

Change prophesied: The Trumpet has long predicted that the Catholic Church would become increasingly political and even rally behind one leader.

I truly believe the Vatican will help bring that political leader on the scene, and that’s when we will really see the fireworks. We know from these prophecies that the Vatican will become very powerful and instigate some radical changes.
—Gerald Flurry, Trumpet editor in chief

Learn more: Read “The ‘Holy’ in the Holy Roman Empire.”