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Pope Leo XIV is expected to attend. Feiges will accept a long time ago submitted resignation request in a timely manner. Thus, the sedisvacancy of the Magdeburg bishop's chair is imminent. So far, so normal.
Yet the circumstances in which Fig goes into retirement are anything but normal. Finally, the first AfD-led state government of Germany is in the starting blocks in Magdeburg in these weeks; in December, parliamentary group leader Ulrich Siegmund wants to be elected Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt.
Socially and politically, this is a deep turning point for the whole of Germany, after all, the AfD is a far-right party.
It is awkward that the Magdeburg bishop's chair will be orphaned in this delicate phase of all places. Because the circumstance is aggravating that the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is particularly anti-church and plans numerous anti-ecclesiastical measures.
It would be all the more important that the diocese of Magdeburg would also have a strong and courageous bishop at its head from December, who could clearly contradict the party and represent the interests of the church with authority.
Of course: The diocese is not leaderless even in the sedisvacancy. In the meantime, a diocesan administrator will lead the fate of the diocese (but only with limited powers), and there are also strong church voices on the ground who can take a position against the AfD and for the church.
Or as Bishop Feige says today in the Catholic.de interview: "I am one of those who have borne responsibility so far. Others will carry on that responsibility well.”
And yet one has to be so honest: the diocese is weakened by the resignation of Feige, one of the most prominent voices of the East German Church, and could thus become an easier "loot" for the AfD. Those involved in the process of seeking and electing a new bishop should therefore do everything possible to keep the time of the sedisvacancy as short as possible.
In view of the political situation, Magdeburg simply cannot afford to wait longer than necessary for a new bishop.