This is how Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, flattered the German bishops in a statement on their Ad Limina visit (VaticanNews.va, 24 November).
He "understands" the bishops. For him, the culprits are a "limited group of theologians from a few decades ago" whose agenda has "suddenly” (sic) become the "majority proposal of the German episcopate".
Ouellet mentions married priests, women's ordination, homosexualism, gender theory, changes to the catechism, etc.
"What happened? and Where did we end up?" - he plays the surprised, as if all this had come overnight.
Ouellet has the impression that abuse cases are being exploited to push through other ideas that are not directly related to them. It is about "a fundamental change" [= removal] of Catholic morality.
That is why he judges the Synod as a "project of change in the Church" and not as a "pastoral innovation."