A Vatican statement clarifies that the initiative underway in Germany "does not have the power to oblige bishops and the faithful" to "new ways of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morality." The invitation is to converge into the synodal path of the universal Church.

Released by the Vatican press office in German and Italian on July 21, the declaration said the Catholic Church in Germany could not “initiate new official structures or doctrines in the dioceses prior to an agreed understanding at the level of the universal church.”

The statement goes on to cite the words of Pope Francis contained in his Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany, "the universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church. If they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence the need always to ensure that communion with the whole body of the Church."

"Therefore," the statement concludes, "it is hoped that the proposals of then path of the Particular Churches in Germany will converge into the synodal path being taken by the universal Church, for mutual enrichment and a witness to that unity by which the body of the Church manifests its fidelity to Christ the Lord.”