Cardinal Reinhard Marx tried last week to disarm the crisis that has emerged within the ranks of the German Bishops Conference over the last few weeks.

The conference president was criticized for his budget austerity policy at a time when the German Catholic Church's income has broken all records. Last year, in fact, the 27 German dioceses received a total of 6.3 billion euros from the German church tax or Kirchensteuer.

Ten years ago, the prospect of falling parishioners numbers had led the bishops to adopt economy measures, particularly in respect to the budget of the Federation of Dioceses of Germany (VDD), the umbrella body coordinating the German Church's activities at federal level.

The VDD will in 2017 have a budget of 127 million euros, which represents around 2% of the total resources of the Church. In Germany, the 27 dioceses control their own finances. However, in January, the Federation announced an austerity policy, resulting in incomprehension on the part of the institutions involved.

This policy in effect envisages a 50% reduction in its financial contribution to the Catholic overseas secretariat which finances the pastoral activities of the German-speaking community in 120 countries around the world.