Canton of Lucerne
The government council sticks to the concordat with the diocese of Basel and the financing of the canons
The government council rejects a motion from David Roth (SP) that calls for withdrawal from the diocese concordat. He still wants to have a say in the diocesan organization.
The government council wants to stick to the diocese concordat with the diocese of Basel and thus continue to finance the expenses of the three Lucerne canons and the salary of the resident canon. He rejects a motion from the former SP canton councilor and current national councilor David Roth (Lucerne) and the SP parliamentary group.
Roth demanded that the canton of Lucerne withdraw from the diocese concordat in order to be able to abolish the financing of the canons. This is out of time for Roth. Only around half of Lucerne’s population is Catholic.
Terminating the diocese concordat is out of the question for the government council. As he explains in his response to Roth’s proposal, the canton of Lucerne, with two representatives in the diocesan conference, has a say in the diocesan organization.
The canons in the diocese of Basel elect the bishop and have the right to remove candidates from the list. This makes it possible to prevent the election of people who are not supported by the grassroots. “If the rights and duties were transferred to the Catholic regional church, the canton of Lucerne would lose its diplomatic relationship with the diocese of Basel and the right to cancel the election of bishops,” writes the government council. The government council considers negotiations to release the canton of Lucerne from its payment obligations to be “futile”.
The cathedral chapter is the bishop’s senate. It elects the bishop and supports him in running the diocese. The cathedral chapter includes eighteen canons, three of whom are from the canton of Lucerne. The canons also act as diplomatic links between the cantonal governments and the diocese.
In 2023, the canton of Lucerne paid a lump sum of around 80,000 francs to the diocese organization for the three canons and covered personnel costs of around 130,000 francs. (sb)
