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Top German Catholic official says church should be more inclusive

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German na­tional conference of Catholic prelates, called for a more inclusive church on Decem­ber 29, suggesting that the Catholic hierarchy could shift its positions on women’s ordination and homosexuality.

According to the Catholic News Ser­vice, Bätzing, who heads the Diocese of Limburg, near Frankfurt, told a German magazine that while it is important to “honestly state the church’s arguments as to why the sacramental ministry can only be given to men,” those arguments are becoming less convincing over time.