The Vatican Rejects German Bishops’ Request to Allow Laypeople to Deliver Homilies: Here’s Why

(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 06.23.2026).- In a letter dated 17 June 2026 addressed to the President of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Dr Heiner Wilmer SCJ, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has communicated that it is not possible to grant the indult requested on 30 March 2026 to permit, in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.

While expressing appreciation for the pastoral concerns that inspired the request, the Dicastery reaffirms that the current discipline cannot be dispensed from by means of an indult, since the reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy.

The homily forms an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word, is intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel, and constitutes an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that binds together Word and Sacrament in the Eucharistic celebration.

The letter also emphasises the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers so that the homily may fully express its pastoral and spiritual effectiveness.

Finally, the Dicastery recalls that the Church’s current discipline already provides for numerous forms of proclaiming the Word and preaching that may be entrusted to lay members of the faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist, in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of these different forms of proclaiming the Gospel.

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