The Vatican has rejected a request from the German bishops for special permission (an “indult”) to allow lay men and women to preach homilies during Mass.

“Lay faithful may not preach during the celebration of the Eucharist in the place intended for the homily,” Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, wrote in a June 17 letter responding to the request.

The June 17 letter, along with the German bishops’ original request, was published in German on the website of the German Bishops’ Conference on June 23. (The English translations in this article are not official translations as none have been published.) The same day, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a press release on the matter, taking the unusual step of publishing it exclusively in English.

The dicastery’s decision appears to ban any lay preaching immediately after the Gospel, arguing that its “place” and “function…essentially coincide with those of the homily itself,” raising questions about lay preaching, which is currently practiced in nearby Switzerland.

The German bishops’ request

Since 1970, the German bishops have periodically requested permission from the Vatican for various forms of lay preaching. In 1973, the Vatican granted them temporary permission for lay people to preach during Mass “in special cases.” In 1977, that permission was renewed through 1982.

In 1983, a new Code of Canon Law was released that allowed bishops’ conferences to permit lay people to preach during Mass, but did not allow them to deliver the homily after the reading of the Gospel. The German bishops’ request to the Vatican details how, “after lengthy discussions with the Holy See” in 1988, the Holy See approved an “Order for the Preaching Ministry of Laypeople” that allowed lay people to preach on the readings at the beginning of the Mass. This rule has remained in effect ever since.

The German “Synodal Way,” a reform and discernment process involving lay people and bishops that has previously experienced tensions with the Vatican, has discussed lay ministries at length. Ultimately, 90 percent of the bishops participating in the Synodal Way—a majority of German bishops—voted in favor of requesting that the Vatican allow “theologically and spiritually qualified” lay people “who are commissioned by the bishop” to preach the homily on Sundays and feast days.

Bishop Heiner Wilmer, S.C.J., bishop of Münster and the president of the German bishops’ conference, sent the request in a letter to the Dicastery for Divine Worship on March 30. In an explanation of the request attached to the letter, Bishop Wilmer laid out the history and arguments in favor of allowing lay homilies. He argued that lay preaching on the readings that is currently allowed comes at an awkward time in the Mass, before the readings that are being preached on have been proclaimed. This, he said, had prevented the practice from being applied more widely.

At the same time, he argued, due to the shortage of priests, “the pastoral situation in Germany has intensified to the point that situations are arising more and more often in which priests preside over the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist who—whether because of advanced age, physical frailty, language barriers, or other obstacles—are not able to give the homily in an appropriate manner.” It is “not defensible toward the faithful,” he argued, to ban lay homilies in these situations.

He also pushed back against the argument—reiterated in Archbishop Roche’s response—that the homily is part of the liturgy, saying that it was not spoken in Latin like the rest of the liturgy, and that preaching the homily is not reserved exclusively to priests, as it is already open to deacons who are not celebrating the Mass.

The Vatican’s response

Cardinal Roche opened his letter of June 17 to the German bishops by expressing his “sincere gratitude for the pastoral concern underlying this request and for the desire to ensure appropriate spiritual care for the communities entrusted to you.” However, he said, no indult could be granted because the homily is “an integral part of the liturgy” and “inseparably connected with the proclamation of the Gospel and with presiding over the celebration,” and thus reserved to priests and deacons. He cited a St. John Paul II-era instruction, “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” reaffirming that lay people cannot give the homily during Mass, “even under designation.”

The prefect wrote that an exception could not be justified by the “serious pastoral considerations” or “better theological preparation or communicative ability on the part of the lay faithful” that Bishop Wilmer had raised.

In a key passage that could have implications beyond Germany, Cardinal Roche wrote that the ban on lay homilies applies to any preaching that happens just after the Gospel, “since the proposed place—immediately after the Gospel—and the function exercised essentially coincide with those of the homily itself.”

In 2005, the Swiss bishops issued a pastoral letter saying that qualified lay people could give reflections “in place of the homily” at Mass when needed. In several German-speaking Swiss dioceses, including those of Basel and St. Gallen, the practice has become common; it remains to be seen whether the Vatican might clamp down on these reflections, which, per the logic of Cardinal Roche’s letter, are essentially homilies.

Colleen Dulle is the Vatican Correspondent at America and co-hosts the "Inside the Vatican" podcast. She is the author of Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter (Image, 2025).