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Bishop Neymeyr from Erfurt: “Wake-up call for Catholics in the AfD”

Photo: Martin Schutt/dpa

Six German bishops appealed in an open letter to people not to vote for the AfD in this year's elections.

Under the heading “Standing up for democracy” the two-page paper states: “We bishops express (…) very clearly that, against the background of our own conscience, we support the positions of extreme parties such as the III.

“We cannot accept the path of the Heimat party or even the AfD.”

“Respecting and protecting the inviolable dignity of human beings” must be the “supreme guideline” of state action.

"Political parties that question this principle cannot, in our understanding, be an alternative." The call culminates in the sentence: "Vote responsibly."

»Common Word«

The paper, entitled “Common Word of the North-East German Bishops,” is available to SPIEGEL.

It is scheduled to be released on Friday.

The archbishops Stefan Heße (Hamburg) and Heiner Koch (Berlin) as well as the bishops Gerhard Feige (Magdeburg), Ulrich Neymeyr (Erfurt), Wolfgang Ipolt (Görlitz) and Heinrich Timmerevers (Dresden-Meißen) signed.

The Catholic clergy write: “Crude expulsion fantasies for migrants and their supporters,” “the rejection of offers of protection for refugees,” the “denial of man-made climate change,” and the “blanket contempt for political actors and institutions” are incompatible with the “fundamental values ​​of our society.” «.

State elections are scheduled for 2024 in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia.

In all three countries, the AfD is currently the strongest force in surveys.

There are European elections in June.

It recently became known that AfD politicians had met with right-wing extremists in Potsdam to discuss the mass deportation and expatriation of migrants.

Since then, the question of how anti-constitutional the AfD is has moved to the center of the public debate.

The bishops' appeal states that many people are "uncertain, angry and afraid of social decline."

But this should not lead to “being taken over by populist statements and seemingly simple solutions.”

Right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic positions are becoming increasingly socially acceptable.

“Hate and agitation are driving society apart.”

The bishops write that they view the developments “with concern.”

The “orientation to Christian roots, to human rights, to the equality of people in all phases of life, to the values ​​of democracy, a social constitutional state and a social market economy” have brought Germany “peace and prosperity”.

It is important to hold on to that.

Missing intersection

Hamburg Archbishop Heße told SPIEGEL that it was agreed in December that it was important to speak out now.

The AfD is “anti-democratic” and its ideas are “ethnic and nationalistic.”

For her, the demand for so-called remigration is about the “deportation” of migrants.

“There is no overlap between Christianity and the AfD.” The Archdiocese of Hamburg also includes the Mecklenburg part of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Erfurt Bishop Neymeyr emphasized that the aim of the appeal was “to motivate people not to make a voting decision based on their gut.”

At the same time, it is a "wake-up call for Catholics in the AfD who are alienating themselves from their faith through their membership."

Neymeyr said he only understands dissatisfaction with politics to a certain extent.

His understanding ends “where generally accepted facts are denied, such as man-made climate change.”

The head of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, said last September that the AfD's positions were incompatible with the positions of the Catholic Church.