"Old Catholic Church": Cardinal Schönborn Apologises
The reason: On 19 February he told the magazine Communio that he did not wish the "Catholic" Church in Germany "the fate of the Old Catholic Church", [i.e. that it would become a small, unimportant sect that gathers perhaps 5,000 people in Austria].
Austria's "Old Catholics" went into a frenzy, writing a letter to Schönborn, demanding an "urgent clarification" and asking the prelate the rhetorical question: "What specific fate do you have in mind here?"
"I would like to apologise for a misunderstanding that I have caused through an ill-considered choice of words," Cardinal Schönborn wrote in a letter to the "Old Catholic" lay bishopess Maria Kubin, a lapsed Catholic, mother, grandmother and psychotherapist.
He didn't wish the German dioceses a schism, which is always a wound, Schönborn explained: "I did not intend it as a devaluation or criticism of the Old Catholic Church, and I regret that it could be understood in this way."
Picture: Maria Kubin, Christoph Schönborn © wikicommons CC BY-SA, #newsYdryrrsaoh