“Opening hearts of bishops”

adminonNovember 8, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Prelate Krzysztof Charamsa with his partner © Luciano Del Castillo

Monsignor Krysztof Charamsa © Luciano Del Castillo

Shortly before the Family Synod, Prelate Krzystof Charamsa had confessed his homosexuality – and was suspended. Now he has written a letter to Pope Francis.

Vatican prelate Krzystof Charamsa (43), suspended for confessing his homosexuality, has asked the pope for help. He had written a letter to Francis asking him to "open the hearts of the bishops" at the World Synod of Families, Charamsa said in an interview on Spain's Catalunya Radio (Wednesday).

Bishops must think of "all families" at synod, Charamsa says; minorities must not be left out. He said the Catholic Church must also recognize homosexuals. "We are good people and we defend family values," former Vatican official says.

Charamsa had come out as a homosexual in interviews in Italian and Polish media over the weekend, as well as at a press conference with his Catalan partner in Rome. The Vatican stripped the cleric of his post in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and revoked his teaching authority for papal colleges.

Mobile payment: Sparkassen Fresh Payment App for Android on

The savings banks have their app "Pay mobile" a comprehensive update missed. With version 3.1.2 Receive the app for contactless usage to NFC terminals not only a fresh face, but also new features. In the medium term, the savings banks want the app to one "Mobile Payment Wallet" expanding with coarse functionality, S-Payment GmbH shared as publishers of the application on Tuesday.

The most recent innovation is the safety PIN that must be set up after the update. Access to the app itself is only possible after entering this pin, optionally but also by biometric unlocking functions of the smartphone such as the fingerprint. However, this additional backup has no effect on the payment process, which runs as before.

New look

Overall, the app is now more modern therefore, the overview page of the app has been redesigned. In addition to the active and other registered cards, the last transactions are also at a glance. The cards stored in the old app are supposed and need not be newly digitized.

According to the savings banks, the app is around 800.000 customers in use. Since the beginning of 2019, the app was used at 18 million transactions with a total turnover of 470 million euros. The app will "very well accepted", Said S-Payment Chef Erik Meierhoff.

"With the update, the savings bank financial group builds on this success and creates the technical basis for integration of other applications", Meierhoff said. The Sparkasse now wants to expand the app to a full-fledged wallet and integrate further payment methods, value-added programs, installment loans or the contactless use of ATMs.

Berlin starting difficulties

The savings banks had published the app for mobile pay to NFC terminals for the first time in the summer of 2018. After a few start-ups – tickets of the Berlin Sparkasse do not want to activate – the Android app has established itself. On the iPhone the cards are integrated directly in Apple Pay. Contactless payment is on the rise across Europe, which is known by cash-rich German Hangen in the acceptance but a bit behind.

Mobile pay 3.1.2 is available for download now in the Play Store.

The president of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Thomas Sternberg, continues to see the reform process of the Synodal Way in the German Catholic Church as a model of success.

"We currently have a unique opportunity for reform," Sternberg said Friday at the spring plenary meeting of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). Never before have so many priests, bishops and laity called for changes in the Church, he said. "And in Rome we have a pope who at least formulates such reform themes."

Similar reform processes in international local churches

Sternberg also pointed out that numerous local churches around the world were embarking on similar reform processes and were also using the German model, for example in Australia, Ireland and Austria. "This shows that we are not going a special way, but that it is a world-church development."

The ZdK president also cited remarks by Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA) had said he was watching the Synodal Way in Germany "with great respect because they dare to ask very big questions". However, the unity of the church must remain in view. At the same time, the president of the Commission of EU Bishops' Conferences COMECE said that the most important ie currently being negotiated by the Church in Germany was the participation of women in the Church.

"We are forced to succeed"

Sternberg admitted that he had no "exit strategy" for the Synodal Way. "We are forced to succeed," he said. Failure to do so would have disastrous consequences for the Church. He described as nonsensical accusations that the Synodal Way leads to a German national church or to a "Los von Rom" movement.

The ZdK president demanded a better information flow at the synodal way. "It was a mistake to let the work of the forums run internally," he said. At least topics, dates and course of events would have to be publicly known, so that a broader participation of the delegates and the public would be possible. In the future, forum chairs would decide what content from the forums should subsequently be published.

The Synodal Way on the future of church life in Germany was launched in 2019 and is expected to last until February 2022. Supreme body is the synodal assembly. It has 230 members, who are supposed to represent the widest possible range of church life. Four forums will focus on sexual morality, the priestly way of life, power and the separation of powers, and the role of women in the church.

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