Vatican nuncio to German bishops: Pope and Eucharist prevent a ‘Christian-flavored NGO’

The popeʼs ambassador to Germany told the countryʼs bishops this week that the Churchʼs visible unity rests on two pillars: the papacy and the Eucharist.

Without them, he warned, the Church would become “a mere federation of individual communities, or even a Christian-flavored NGO [nongovernmental organization],” CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, reported.

Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, the apostolic nuncio, spoke at the opening of the German bishops' conference fall plenary assembly in Fulda, which runs through Oct. 1.

The bishops' conference published the full address .

“The Catholic Church rests on two great pillars of its visible unity — the Petrine ministry and the Eucharist,” van Megen told the German bishops on Sept. 28. “The pope safeguards the unity of faith and ecclesial communion, while the Eucharist sacramentally realizes and nourishes this unity.”

Members of the German bishops’ conference at the opening Mass in Fulda Cathedral on Sept. 28, 2026. | Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Marko Orlovic

The Eucharist “is not merely a symbol of unity,” van Megen said, but “actually creates and strengthens the communion of…