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The “church tax” of the German church distinguishes the Teutonic Catholic context from all others. This is also why the German episcopate has more power than the others, conservatives admit. Those who have always been in favor of a revision of the standard.
Somehow, Joseph Ratzinger had tried. But the abolition of the “tithe” provided for Catholics residing in Germany remains taboo. After the German pontificate, beyond the affirmations of the “traditional front”, no more was said about him.
The procedure for this taxation is practically automatic. To be subjected to the withdrawal regime of the German Catholic Church, baptism is enough. Then there is the obligation to pay, which corresponds to 8-9% of gross income. World champion Luca Toni knows something about it, and at one point they asked him out of nowhere for a figure of around one million seven hundred thousand euros as a Catholic.
Joseph ratzinger he has never been convinced of the validity of that imposition. The Pope Emeritus was quite clear when, as ruler, he wrote precisely in reference to the German Church that “gramHistorical examples show that the missionary witness of a Church detached from the world emerges more clearly. Freed from material and political burdens and privileges, the Church can better dedicate itself to the whole world in a truly Christian way, it can be truly open to the world. ” It does not say “abolition of church tax”, but it can be deducted. The context and details were recalled some time ago by the Vatican expert Sandro Magister on his blog. And Ratzingerian circles are ready to testify: Benedict XVI would have liked to revise that rule. If only because the possibilities of the Catholic Church should not be linked to the information of baptized: “They do not move from a dynamic of faith. I think this represents the great danger for the Church in Germany: there are so many collaborators under contract that the institution is turning into a worldly bureaucracy … I am saddened by this situation, this situation. surplus of money that again is scarce, and the bitterness that it generates, the sarcasm of the intellectual circles ”. These are always the words of Ratzinger, who in that speech, however, admitted that he was not in himself contrary to “tithe.” The truth is that it is difficult to imagine a profound reform of the German system without abolishing its main rule, the “tax.”
And if anyone still had doubts, it would be enough to look at what the Ratzingerians have proposed in these seven years. An example above all, the work of Monsignor Gregor Maria Hanke, who openly sided with abolition. The debate was retaken to a minimum in relation to the “Biennial Synod” of the German episcopate, an appointment through which the progressive front would like to modify some doctrinal issues, which however are strictly the competence of the universal Church (at least some). The “traditional front” took to the streets in a sign of contained protest. And one of the points raised was the disappearance of a tax considered inappropriate. At the head of this group of faithful was Mons. Carlo Maria Viganò. The former apostolic nuncio who called for the resignation of Pope Francis in connection with the McCarrick case. But the need for abolition is also shared by other personalities linked to Ratzinger’s teachings.
The effects of the persistence of the tax are not neutral. The numbers are the image of the situation: wrote Emanuel Pietrobon in InsideOver that 272,771 people deliberately decided to leave the Catholic Church, a significant increase compared to 216,078 in 2018 ”. And the figure is only valid for 2019, while the progression of the phenomenon risks the lack of continuity. It is no longer a question of avoiding “Protestantization”, but of taking note of a phenomenon that seems more urgent to analyze: the system, as it is, does not find the approval of many Catholics, German or not, but still residents. in Germany. Ratzinger had warned.
