The Vatican has rejected a German bishop’s request for permission to allow lay persons to deliver the homily in “exceptional circumstances” instead of a cleric.

The German bishops had requested a special formal permission, known as an indult, in March of this year.

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments – the Vatican department responsible liturgical matters – conveyed their negative response in a letter addressed to the president of the German bishops’ conference last week.

The dicastery issued a rare press release announcing the decision on Tuesday, explaining that the reservation of the homily to an ordained minister is not a mere matter of disciple, but “derives from the very nature of the liturgy.”

The statement expressed “appreciation for the pastoral concerns that inspired the request,” and said the letter to the German bishops “emphasized the importance of promoting the ongoing formation” for priests, especially regarding the preaching of homilies.

The liturgy department also reminded the German bishops that several ways already exist for lay persons to proclaim the Word of God and even to preach outside the context of sacred liturgy.

This is the second time in as many months a powerful Vatican department has dealt with the German bishops publicly.

In early May, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – the Vatican’s doctrinal department – published a 2024 letter critical of the German bishops’ proposal for an official blessing ritual to be used for same-sex and other irregular couples.

The publication of the 2024 letter came after several German bishops approved such rituals, moves Pope Leo XIV strongly criticized in remarks to journalists traveling with him to Rome at the end of his twelve-day trip to Africa earlier this year.

Citing the controversial DDF document, Fiducia supplicans, issued by the doctrine dicastery during the reign of Pope Francis, Leo said “Francis’s infamous, famous, well-known, expression, Tutti!, Tutti!, Tutti! [Everyone! Everyone! Everyone!], expresses the Church’s conviction that everyone is welcomed, everyone is invited, everyone is invited to follow Jesus, and everyone is invited to seek conversion in their own lives.”

“To go beyond this today,” Leo said, “could cause more disunity than unity,” adding “that  we should seek to build our unity on Jesus Christ and on what Jesus Christ teaches.”