Top German bishop denounces far-right AfD as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'

Heiner Wilmer, head of the country's Catholic church, says the party is showing 'contempt for democracy'

The head of the Catholic church in Germany has accused the far-right Alternative for Germany of showing "contempt for our democracy and its principles", doubling down on criticism of rightwing extremists by Pope Leo and other Christian leaders.

Bishop Heiner Wilmer, president of the German bishops' conference, said he and senior Catholic clerics "vehemently reject" the AfD's claim to be a Christian organisation, calling the party now poised to form the government in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt "a wolf in sheep's clothing".

In an interview, Wilmer said the Catholic church would maintain its red lines against the AfD, refusing any public platforms to the leaders or official representatives of a party that he accuses of downplaying the historic crimes of the Nazi era.

"Ethno-nationalist ideology . . . is completely incompatible with Christianity," Wilmer told the FT at the Vatican's 150-year-old Teutonic College. "Within the ideology that AfD politicians repeatedly draw upon, white male rightwing Germans are particularly exalted at the expense of others -- especially migrants."

That message, Wilmer said, was at sharp odds with contemporary Christianity, which encourages "love of neighbour and solidarity with all people in need -- and not merely with those we view as culturally similar or with whom it is convenient for us to align".

But Wilmer said the church would "not close its doors to the people who vote for these parties", but instead "seek dialogue" and try to "offer guidance". He also said the Catholic church would seek to "work with other forces in society to defend democracy in Germany and cohesion in Europe".

The anti-immigrant, pro-Russian AfD emerged from recent elections as the largest party in Saxony-Anhalt, where it could soon claim Germany's first far-right state premiership since the second world war. It is now polling at about 30 per cent nationwide.

The church's strident criticism of the AfD -- first made official in the German bishops' conference's public denunciation of the party in 2024 -- is unusual in Europe, where Catholic clerics typically expound on church teachings on specific issues of concern, while seeking to remain non-partisan.

But the attack reflects the Vatican's growing alarm over the rise of far-right forces across Europe -- from France's Rassemblement National to Spain's Vox and Italy's National Future -- ahead of an intense European election cycle with four of the EU's five most populous member states holding national elections over the next 12 months.

Since his elevation to the papal throne, Pope Leo has criticised the US's callous treatment of migrants, and visited Italy's Lampedusa island and Spain's Canary Islands -- two major arrival points for foreign migrants making the dangerous journey to Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

Pope Leo has endorsed the German bishops' concerns about the AfD, saying recently that "the combination of these far-right points of view, with a certain kind of religion . . . is not an authentic expression of Christianity".

His comments followed his recent excommunication of clerics and lay members of a rebellious, arch-conservative Catholic society, the Society of St Pius X, which had historic ties to France's far right -- and for which AfD lawmaker Maximilian Krah worked as a lawyer.

About 23 per cent of Germans are registered Catholics and about 20 per cent are Protestants, while 48 per cent of the population has no religious affiliation.

Wilmer conceded that the AfD's positions on many modern biomedical issues -- including opposing abortion, assisted suicide and commercial surrogacy -- were aligned with Catholic teachings.

But he said this merely gave a "Christian facade" to a party that he accused of having an exclusivist worldview and tolerating the aggressive intimidation of its critics.

"When the AfD makes national or cultural identity the measure of political belonging, we must ask a fundamental question: what happens to the dignity of those who do not belong?"

For its part, the AfD has called for an end to German state funding for Catholic and Protestant churches, financial obligations that stem from the 19th century seizure of church assets.

The party also wants the government to stop collecting church taxes on behalf of religious communities, a potentially serious financial blow to the German Catholic church -- which spent more than €537mn in international humanitarian aid last year.

Christian churches played a big role in welcoming the 1mn migrants who came to Germany from war-torn Syria and elsewhere in 2015 after then chancellor Angela Merkel decided to welcome asylum seekers from the Middle East.

Not all senior German Catholic clerics agree with the bishops' outspokenness. Cardinal Gerhard Müller -- former prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the erstwhile Inquisition -- warned in September against an "abuse of spiritual authority for political purposes".

But the bishop's criticism comes as recently unsealed Vatican archives have put a renewed spotlight on the Catholic church's chequered response to the rise of fascism in Europe a century ago.

"The Catholic church is repeatedly accused of not having taken a firm enough stand against the Nazis in Germany. I do not wish to pass judgment here on the actions of church leaders at that time," Wilmer said. "But for us today -- in the times in which we live, we underline that we do everything against any kind of antisemitism and the violation of humanity. I therefore say, nip it in the bud."