Christian World | The Vatican's envoy to Germany has ordered the Catholic Diocese of Speyer to pause a plan to merge its 70 parishes into nine until a new bishop is named

ACW | November 12, 2026 — The Catholic Diocese of Speyer in Germany said on Wednesday that the Vatican's ambassador in Berlin had ordered it to suspend its parish restructuring until a new bishop is appointed.

Apostolic Nuncio Hubertus van Megen cited Canon 428 of the Code of Canon Law, which bars changes to a diocese while its bishop's seat is vacant, Katholisch.de, the German Catholic Church's news site, reported.

The plan would have merged the diocese's 70 parishes into nine large units. Van Megen said the aim was to protect "the freedom and full responsibility of the future bishop," Katholisch.de reported.

"We will respect and implement the decision. However, I am disappointed with the content of the letter," said Markus Magin, the diocesan administrator. Diocesan leaders warned of "considerable consequences for the future of the diocese," the German Catholic news agency KNA reported.

"The reasons for the reform remain unchanged," the diocese said, according to regional news site Lokalo. The nunciature has made no further comment in published reports.

Background: Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Speyer's Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann in August, KNA reported. Wiesemann had said he lacked the strength to carry the reform forward, according to Lokalo.

Why it matters: Just over 420,000 of the roughly 1.57 million people living in the Diocese of Speyer are Catholic, a number that has been falling for years, Lokalo reported. The diocese says its current structures cannot be sustained in the long term.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: Katholisch.de — Nuncio halts parish reform process in Diocese of Speyer (German); DOMRADIO.DE (KNA) — Vatican halts parish structure reform in Diocese of Speyer (German); Diocese of Speyer — statement (German); Lokalo — Vacant bishop's seat: Vatican halts Speyer reform process (German)

Photo: Speyer Cathedral, Sail over, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)