Christmas crisis: Archbishop Lackner fights for the soul!

Christmas crisis: Archbishop Lackner fights for the soul!

Wien, Österreich - On Christmas Eve, Archbishop Franz Lackner commented in an interview with the “Press” about the challenges of faith and the perception of Christmas. He noticed that many people are driven by the longing for spiritual depth at the festival, even if the importance of Christmas is often not fully understood. "God is not an administrative answer," he emphasized. Lackner believes that today's society has arrived at a point where the depth of faith has been pushed into the background, while constant satisfaction prevails by limited expectations. "We are afraid of going deep," he said, which for many can be interpreted as a loss of an intimate relationship with God. Despite his criticism of the current reality of the church, he remains optimistic and calls the believers to consider the faith as a process of struggle and search that does not culminate in fast -moving answers.

career and influences

Franz Lackner, born on July 14, 1956 in Styria, has been Archbishop of Salzburg since 2013 and has been the chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference since 2020. As an order of orders, he made a name for himself, not only through his off -position activities, but also through his adamant use for contemporary questions of faith. His extensive training and experience, which extends from his ordination in 1991 until his appointment as an archbishop, shaped him. He referred to the importance that the church is perceived as a living structure and spoke about the need to rethink the structures and to focus on the sources of faith and hope. He also concretized his attitude towards speculative rumors about possible successors in Vienna: "At the human discretion, this was to be ruled out," he emphasized, when he made it clear that the Church needs younger and more dynamic leaders to act effectively today.

In the current discussion about church reforms and questions of faith, Lackner said that it was central to him to present the concerns of the believers about structures and the search for meaning for bureaucratic considerations. This was particularly evident when he pointed out the contact points of the church with current social challenges. By named the situation for exit from church as a social phenomenon of secularization, appealed Lackner to flow the faith and not can be channeled in order to develop the church again in a more lively direction.

These insights from Archbishop Lackner are not only a personal commitment, but also reflect the urgently needed changes in the Roman Catholic Church in order to meet the current challenge of a dynamic social change, as well as in the reports of Kap and