Why Did Pope Leo Promote Bishop Christian Würtz?

Catholics Deserve an Answer

The appointment of Bishop Christian Würtz as the new Bishop of Eichstätt is one of the most perplexing decisions of Pope Leo’s pontificate to date. It is difficult to understand not simply because of who Bishop Würtz is, but because of the unmistakable context in which this appointment has been made.

Christian Würtz is not an unknown figure whose views have only recently emerged. He is a canon lawyer and theologian whose public record has been established over many years. He has supported significant elements of the German Synodal Way, including texts advocating blessing ceremonies for couples whose relationships fall outside the Church’s traditional understanding of marriage, proposals recognising gender diversity, and reforms to Catholic teaching on sexuality. He has engaged sympathetically with the Maria 2.0 movement and responded respectfully to women who applied to seminaries in protest against the Church’s reservation of priestly ordination to men, describing their actions as a serious expression of concern while explaining that universal Church law prevented any change.

Whether one agrees with those positions or not, none of them can have come as a surprise to Rome. Pope Leo and the Dicastery for Bishops knew exactly whom they were appointing.

That is what makes this decision so significant.