Austrian bishops meet Pope for frank talks about Church crisis
By Anna Arco

19 June 2009

Pope Benedict XVI summoned Austria's bishops to Rome this week for frank talks about the crisis in the Austrian Church.

Led by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, a delegation of four Austrian bishops flew to Rome at the beginning of this week for a two-day meeting with the Pope and senior Vatican officials after months of controversy.

According to a statement released by the Vatican, Pope Benedict "recalled the urgency of going deeper in the faith and the integral fidelity to the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the Church, and of the renewal of catechesis in the light of the Catechism of the Catholic Church".

They discussed "doctrinal and pastoral questions and of the situation of the clergy, the laity, the major seminaries and the theological faculties of Linz and in other dioceses of Austria".

The bishops were summoned because of events beginning with the appointment of Gerhard Wagner as auxiliary Bishop of Linz and his resignation after it emerged that he had said Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for America's sins, Andrea Tornielli, a journalist for Il Giornale, has claimed. Serious liturgical abuses have been reported in the Diocese of Linz and a number of priests in senior positions are known to live with mistresses.

The delegation included Cardinal Schonborn, Archbishop Alois Kothgasser of Salzburg and Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz , the Bishop Ludwig Schwarz of Linz and the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Peter Stephan Zurbriggen. The prefects of the Congregations of Bishops, for the Doctrine of the Faith and for the Clergy as well as the head of the Congregation for Catholic Education were among the Vatican officials attending the meetings.