The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) switched its synod conference in Bremen to a purely digital format at short notice on Friday.

The reasons given were a “significantly worsened corona situation” and a “vaccination breakthrough”.

According to information from church circles, this affects a double-vaccinated bishop who is now in quarantine.

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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The bishops of other regional churches, who had attended a meeting of the Lutheran bishops with the sick person on the previous Thursday evening, also withdrew into isolation.

The face-to-face meeting was then canceled shortly before the start of the public meetings on Friday afternoon.

The EKD Synod President Anna-Nicole Heinrich said they saw "no other way to deal responsibly with the situation."

The future leadership of the Church, the EKD Council, is to be elected at this year's Synod Conference.

The successor of the outgoing EKD council chairman Heinrich Bedford-Strohm is also determined.

The EKD has a digital voting system that has already proven itself.

However, the newly composed church parliament has never seen itself in presence due to the pandemic.

The synod conference will also deal with dealing with sexualised violence in the Protestant Church, which is a matter of conflict. The independent commissioner of the federal government for questions of the sexual abuse of children, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig demands a better participation of those affected with a view to the synod meeting of their synod meeting. Rörig spoke out in favor of appointing an independent representative in the EKD, who should also be responsible for the advisory board of those affected in the future.

The previous Advisory Board for Affected Persons was suspended by the EKD leadership in the spring after there were also conflicts within the committee.

According to information from the FAZ, Rörig's proposal met with approval from the representatives of those affected.

Those affected, who continue to strive for a pragmatic cooperation with the church, told the FAZ that they had already "made some considerations in this direction".

Detlev Zander, who fundamentally rejects the EKD's work up to now, just like other people affected, spoke of a “good idea”.

"The EKD needs an independent representative," Zander told the FAZ