By Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Catholic Register - The danger of schism, if present anywhere, comes, instead, from Germany, where there is little public criticism at all. Nevertheless, the German episcopate — not journalists and commentators — is in open defiance of the Holy Father’s express wishes, led by Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, who is one of the closest advisers to Pope Francis, one of six members of the council of cardinals, and chairman of the Vatican’s economic council… The German bishops have proposed a “binding” national synod involving bishops and lay associations, which will examine questions such as married clergy and sexual morality.