The spring Plenary Assembly of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) beginning today will end on Thursday 9 March. The meeting will be held at the Kardinal Schulte Haus in Bensberg (Archdiocese of Cologne) and will be attended by the 66 members of the DBK chaired by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising Card. Reinhard Marx.

At the centre of work will be a debate on the “prospects and life of priestly and episcopal ministry”. Attention will also be paid to other topics including the labour market and the current situation of the migrant reception system. Discussion will also focus on the celebrations for the 500^th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. The Bishops will also discuss the issues of end of life and assisted suicide in light of a sentence issued by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig that would exceptionally allow a State Judge to authorise the use of particular drugs to assist terminally ill people in committing suicide: also in light of the fact that this would contradict the fundamental Law of the German State which provides that public authorities are formally prohibited from taking such decisions. In 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court will be called upon to settle the dispute. Attending the Plenary as guests will be the Nuncio to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterović; Cardinal Nakellentuba Philippe Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso); and Cardinal Rubén Salazar Gómez, Archbishop of Bogota (Colombia) and President of CELAM.