Faithful to the Pope and not to the spirit of the world. Leo XIV’s choice of Archbishop Hubertus van Megen as apostolic nuncio among Germany’s progressive bishops.

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The appointment of the new apostolic nuncio in Germany marks an important step.

This is a very delicate moment in relations between Rome and the German bishops. We discussed it just yesterday, highlighting the latest progressive drift—the replacement of the Mass with the Liturgy of the Word.

A large part of the clergy in Germany is unfortunately deeply seduced by the spirit of the world and is gradually moving away from fidelity to the Church’s Magisterium.

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Faithful to the Pope, not to the spirit of the world

Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the Holy Father chose yesterday the Dutch archbishop Hubertus van Megen as his representative in Berlin, succeeding Nikola Eterović, who has reached the end of his mandate due to age limits.

Van Megen, born in 1961, comes from a long diplomatic career developed mainly in Africa, where he served for over a decade as nuncio in countries such as Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya, and South Sudan.

His background is significant, as it seems to have deeply shaped his view of the West.

In 2024, for example, the new nuncio openly criticized certain Western cultural trends, also supported by several German bishops:

“The teachings of Western society on abortion, euthanasia, and gender theory are clear symptoms of a society that has lost its inner compass and is drifting helplessly on the stormy sea of human desires, tossed about and weakened in every respect.”

Van Megen is strongly tied to his African experience. Not surprisingly, he supported the assessments of the Archbishop of Kinshasa (Congo), Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, when he described the Church in Europe as “weakened.”

These positions suggest a far from accommodating approach toward the more progressive currents within the German Church.

 

The new nuncio and the German Synod

The main issue awaiting the new papal representative concerns the so-called German “synodal path” and its future developments. This reform process, launched in 2019, has produced controversial proposals in an effort to remain aligned with the agenda of major Western media.

Van Megen will have to play a complex role: on the one hand to mediate between Rome and the local Church, and on the other to reaffirm the Pope’s line.

The archbishop himself acknowledged in an interview with “Vatican News” that there is an inevitable tension between local dynamics and the universal authority of the Church, but he made the priority of his mission clear: “In the end, it is about obedience to Peter, and this is my primary responsibility.”

Words of hope for the many German Catholics who are more concerned with fidelity to the Magisterium than with ephemeral reformist pressures.