_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ GERMANY ________________

Relieved of (some) duty
Bishop refused to stop counseling
For more than six years, the Holy See had prodded German bishops to stop abortion counseling. Finally, in March of this year, Pope John Paul used his authority to discipline one German bishop who refused to follow policies mandated by Rome, and accepted by the heads of the other 27 German dioceses.

Under a German law that went into effect in 1995, women who wish to procure abortions must produce a certificate showing that they have received counseling on their options. Among the counseling centers authorized to issue such certificates, many were affiliated with the Catholic Church. Some prelates, following the lead of the late Archbishop Johannes Dyba of Fulda, immediately recognized the moral hazards involved, and insisted that Church-related agencies must not issue the certificates. Others reasoned that if they continued to offer counseling for pregnant women, they might dissuade some of them from having abortions.

Eventually the German bishops asked Pope John Paul to settle that debate, and— after months of inconclusive haggling—in 1999 he issued his clear judgment: the Church-sponsored agencies must cease to issue these certificates. After a lengthy “transition period” that lasted through the end of the 2000 calendar year, the German bishops complied, with one notable exception.

In the Limburg diocese, which includes the city of Frankfurt, Bishop Franz Kamphaus refused to follow the directive from Rome. In February, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Bishop Kamphaus received a personal letter from Pope John Paul, hand-delivered by the papal nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, informing him that he must follow the new policy or relinquish his responsibilities. Still the bishop held firm; the German media reported that he might be willing to resign rather than implement the Vatican policy.

On March 8, the Pope took action. Rather than forcing Bishop Kamphaus to resign, he stripped the bishop of his authority over the counseling centers in the Limburg diocese. So the issuance of the abortion certificates would cease, but Bishop Kamphaus would remain in office.

Bishop Kamphaus told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the Vatican’s action would leave a “deep wound” in the German diocese, but said that he had concluded his resignation would not help to heal that wound. Instead, he said, he would continue to act as bishop, “wounded but unbroken” by the unusual disciplinary measure.