The Roman Catholic Church in Germany as a Political Actor – A Sociological Analysis of Discourse on Positioning and Exclusion Processes

“Whoever comes to me, I will never turn away.”

This biblical quote (John 6:37) reflects the self-image of the Christian churches. At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Germany is actively engaging in the current discourse on democracy and emphasizing its role as a social actor that promotes democratic values. Nationalist or far-right positions are expressly rejected. As a rule, the exclusion of certain individuals or groups is not explicitly advocated; however, the possibility of exclusion cannot be ruled out entirely. For example, the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) considers membership in an extremist party incompatible with holding a full-time or volunteer position in the Church.
Here, the welfare of a specific national constitution (preservation of democracy) is placed above the interests of the church’s own community of believers. In doing so, it explicitly defines its role as a political actor and thereby accepts a breakdown in communication with its own members. This leads to a fusion of theological and (socio-)political aspects, which entails a change in the prerequisites for group membership.

This dissertation project uses sociological discourse analysis to examine how the RKK draws organizational boundaries, communicates these both internally and externally, and what consequences this has for the institution’s relationship with its members. The focus is on the public communicative positioning of actors within the RKK who operate at various organizational levels. In addition to publications by the DBK, the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), and the official information platform katholisch.de, the dioceses of Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Görlitz (Saxony), including their respective parishes, will be analyzed as case studies. The analysis will incorporate not only the websites of these actors but also their respective social media channels.

The study aims to identify differences in communication practices toward the various target audiences, both in terms of the respective
media mix and the content and messages conveyed. Furthermore, the RCC’s argumentation strategy toward the involved actors will be analyzed, with the intention of identifying characteristic patterns regarding the legitimation of potential exclusion processes.