Ecumenical “Joy” in Augsburg: Syncretism Disguised as Revival
The EWTN News portal (January 8, 2026) reports on the MEHR conference in Augsburg, Germany, where over 11,000 attendees from Catholic, Lutheran, and evangelical backgrounds gathered for ecumenical worship, prayer sessions, and talks by figures like Johannes Hartl and John Eldredge. The event, organized by Hartl’s Augsburg Gebetshaus (“House of Prayer”), featured interdenominational services, including a Mass celebrated by Auxiliary “Bishop” Florian Wörner and a Protestant service led by Lutheran “Bishop” Tobias Pilz. Hartl framed the gathering as “making room for God” amid European secularization, emphasizing emotional experiences and “the sound of joy.” The article praises the event’s scale and ecumenical harmony but omits any call for conversion to the one true Church.
Ecumenical Syncretism Masquerading as Christian Unity
The MEHR conference embodies the religious indifferentism condemned by Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos (1928): “The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it.” By treating Protestant sects and the Catholic Church as equals in worship—
“Lutheran Bishop Tobias Pilz led a Protestant service on Monday”
—the event rejects the dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (Outside the Church There Is No Salvation). Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864) explicitly condemns the notion that “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion” (Error 18).
Hartl’s claim that
“when we pray, sing, and speak about him […] something comes back: his presence, his joy”
reduces the supernatural grace of prayer to emotional sentimentality. This aligns with Modernist subjectivism denounced in St. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (1907), which condemned the proposition that “Faith, as assent of the mind, is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities” (Proposition 25). True Catholic joy springs from adherence to divine truth, not ecumenical pageantry.
Theological Bankruptcy of “Making Room for God”
Hartl’s emphasis on
“large festivals”
and emotional experiences ignores the Church’s warning against confusing fervor with fidelity. The “theological track” mentioned is a veneer over what is fundamentally a revivalist spectacle. St. Pius X’s Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907) exposed such Modernist tactics: “They add to the […] excitement […] new and stirring sermons […] all calculated to […] warm enthusiasm.”
The event’s ecumenical Masses are sacrileges. When “Bishop” Bertram Meier—a post-conciliar prelate—celebrates the Epiphany, he implicitly denies the unicity of Christ’s sacrifice by sharing liturgical space with Lutherans who reject transubstantiation. Pope Leo XIII’s Apostolicae Curae (1896) declared Anglican orders invalid due to defective form and intention; the same applies to Lutheran “services.” Participation in such acts violates Canon 1258 of the 1917 Code: “It is forbidden for Catholics to assist or take part in any way in non-Catholic religious functions.”
Omissions Exposing Apostasy
The article omits any reference to:
– The necessity of the Catholic Church for salvation, as defined by the Council of Florence (1441).
– Repentance from heresy as a precondition for unity.
– The Kingship of Christ over nations, a truth enshrined in Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925), which warned that societies rejecting divine authority “had to be shaken, because it lacked a stable and strong foundation.”
Instead, the conference promotes a false peace rooted in doctrinal indifference. As Cardinal Pie warned: “The time will come when […] people will believe they are doing a service to God by placing Christ on the same altar with Satan.”
Secular Praise as a Mark of Error
Hartl dismisses secular media critiques with relativistic aplomb:
“If you come here […] you can decide for yourself whether this is a dogmatic, fear-obsessed, hostile culture—or a life-affirming, joyful one.”
Yet our Lord Himself foretold that “the world hates you because you are not of the world” (John 15:19). The world’s approval—whether from secular journalists or ecumenical crowds—is antithetical to the Cross.
Conclusion: The “Sound of Joy” or the Clamor of Apostasy?
The MEHR conference exemplifies the conciliar sect’s abandonment of Catholic integrity. By reducing worship to emotionalism and doctrine to dialogue, it fulfills Pius X’s prophecy: “Modernism leads to the annihilation of all religion—first […] Catholic religion, and religion itself.” True joy flows not from ecumenical novelty but from the immutable Sacrifice of Calvary—a truth silenced amidst Augsburg’s syncretistic revelry.
Source:
‘Making room for God’: MEHR conference draws over 11,000 in Germany (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 08.01.2026