The administrator of a vacant German diocese has said he will reluctantly comply with a Vatican instruction to suspend a plan to cut the number of parishes from 70 to nine until a new bishop takes office.
In a Nov. 11 letter to clergy and staff of the Speyer diocese, administrator Fr. Markus Magin said he was “disappointed” by the request, conveyed to him by Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, the new apostolic nuncio to Germany, after consultation with Vatican dicasteries.
Magin argued that the planned work was consistent with canon law and suspending the project would be harmful to the diocese. He also suggested the decision was at odds with efforts to create a more synodal Church.
Dioceses across Germany have introduced drastic reductions in parishes, prompted by a decline in priests, practicing Catholics, and financial resources. The Archdiocese of Freiburg, for example, cut its parishes in January 2026 from 1,048 to 36, a reduction of approximately 96.6%. The Archdiocese of Paderborn is preparing to merge its 603 parishes into 21 Seelsorgeräume (pastoral areas),
A draft reorganization plan for Speyer, a diocese in southwestern Germany, was unveiled in October 2025, under the leadership of Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann. A diocesan assembly approved the plan’s core principles in June 2026 and Wiesemann formally adopted it.
But in August 2026, Wiesemann unexpectedly resigned, citing the “psychological strain” of office. Magin was elected diocesan administrator, believing he had a mandate to continue preparations for the reorganization.
Magin said he immediately engaged in discussions with experienced canon lawyers about how to approach the restructuring process while respecting Canon 428 of the Code of Canon Law, which prohibits “innovation” during an episcopal vacancy and prevents temporary administrators from doing “anything which could in any way prejudice the rights of the diocese or of the bishop.”
Magin explained that he had also discussed the topic with van Megen, who formally assumed the role of nuncio to Germany in July.
Magin said he received a letter Nov. 9 from van Megen explaining that following consultation with dicasteries of the Roman curia, “the further development of the reform process is to be suspended for the entire duration of the sede vacante, that is, until the new diocesan bishop has canonically taken possession of the diocese.”
Van Megen reportedly cited “canonically grounded concerns” and said that continuing preparations could “raise expectations, set changes in motion and create personal commitments which, although not yet legally binding, threaten to restrict considerably the freedom of discernment and decision-making of the future bishop.”
The nuncio noted that, according to canon law, only the diocesan bishop can establish, suppress, or alter parishes. He also observed that the diocesan priests’ council and pastoral council are suspended during an interregnum and cannot pass binding resolutions.
Van Megen said he sought only “to protect the freedom and full responsibility of the future bishop, so that he can take decisions of such great consequence by his own discernment and in the full exercise of the governing authority.”
Magin wrote: “We will respect and implement this decision communicated by the nuncio. This means that, with immediate effect and until our new bishop takes office, we will suspend the path of reforming our parish structures.”
The Vatican has previously expressed misgivings about sweeping reductions in parishes in German dioceses. In 2020, it objected to the Diocese of Trier’s proposal to reduce its 887 parishes to 35. Vatican officials voiced concern about the large size of the planned parishes, noting that some would have up to 100,000 members. They also noted that some Catholics in rural areas would have to travel 50 miles or more to the nearest parish church.
Also in 2020, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy issued an instruction that set out guidelines for reorganizing parishes. Several German bishops criticized the document, which said that if a bishop entrusts a parish to a lay person because of a shortage of priests, pastoral care must still be ultimately directed by a priest appointed as a moderator.
Some clergy in Germany have expressed reservations about the effects of sweeping cuts to parish numbers. Fr. Fabian Schneider, who leads a newly consolidated large parish in the Freiburg archdiocese, noted in an October 2026 interview that the restructuring, which combined 40 former parishes into one serving around 36,000 Catholics, had left some local priests feeling disempowered and “demoted to the role of a vicar.”
In his letter to clergy and staff in the Speyer diocese, Magin set out why he disagreed with the Vatican’s decision.
The diocesan administrator argued that pausing the process marked “a substantial change” and did not give sufficient weight to decisions made by Wiesemann after wide consultations in the diocese.
“It does not sufficiently recognize the necessity and urgency of measures to change our parish structures, with which we must meet the marked and advancing decline in personnel and financial resources, so as not to overburden full-time and volunteer staff even further and to secure our economic resources,” he wrote.
“It thus breaks the continuity of diocesan life, and so runs counter to the actual meaning of the prohibition of change in Canon 428 § 1.”
Magin also suggested the suspension would have a negative impact on the motivation and commitment of people who have taken part in the reorganization process.
“What further effects the suspension will have on the work of the pastoral teams, the staff in the regional administrations and parish offices, the parish bodies and so on will only become clear in the coming weeks and months,” he said.
He argued that the pause would put the next Bishop of Speyer at a disadvantage as he would face pressure to make a large number of decisions soon after taking office.
“We would gladly have handed the new bishop well-prepared draft concepts for the reform process, carried by great unanimity, on the basis of which he could take his decisions in full freedom. Now, however, there is a danger that he will first have to win back lost trust, which I greatly regret,” Magin wrote.
The administrator also said the decision did not “correspond to the picture of a synodal Church” as expressed in the final document of the 2023-2024 synod on synodality in Rome.
The Speyer diocese’s next bishop will be appointed according to the provisions of the Bavarian Concordat of 1924. Although the diocese is not in Bavaria, it is linked historically to the southern German state.
Under the Bavarian Concordat, diocesan bishops and cathedral chapters submit lists of potential new bishops to the Holy See every three years, regardless of whether there is a vacancy. When a bishop resigns, the cathedral chapter sends its recommendations to the Holy See. The pope chooses from among the candidates presented through the concordat process.
Before the appointment is formally announced, the Holy See consults the Bavarian state government about whether it has any political objections to the candidate.
Concluding his letter, Magin said: “Dear full-time and volunteer colleagues, I can only guess what the nuncio’s letter triggers in you and how it will affect your commitment in our diocese. I thank you from the heart for your impressive commitment so far to a good path for our diocese into the future.”
“At the same time, I ask you to respect and support the decision to suspend the pastoral structure process. I also encourage you, despite all the disappointment you may feel, not to let up in your commitment to our diocese, our parishes and communities, associations and fellowships.”
"Canon 428. §1 While the see is vacant, no innovation is to be made."
Pretty legendary take by this guy. "“It thus breaks the continuity of diocesan life, and so runs counter to the actual meaning of the prohibition of change in Canon 428 § 1.”
AKA: "See, what it says is actually what the opposite of what it says."
When you approach the guy, he simply winks, puts his finger to his lips and uses the age old sign of recognition....
"There are many chickens in Westphalia."
In some ways, reducing the number of parishes is a sleight of hand. On one level, quite a bit of the (especially non-sacramental) admin like running pre-schools can be centralized. Confirmation prep (once every 2 years) will also take place across the mega-parish, but for the most part (very often) the same priests say Mass at the same time they always did. Many things are still organized at the level of the now officially defunct pastoral-units (Seelsorgeeinheiten).