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Synodal Assembly: blessing celebrations for homosexuals allowed

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Synodal Assembly: blessing celebrations for homosexuals allowed



The decision to allow same-sex couples to be blessed in the Catholic Church in Germany is a decisive step forward and a kind of acid test for the German bishops’ willingness to reform. 80 percent of the bishops present voted for the text “Blessing celebration for couples who love each other”. This also provides for blessing celebrations for divorced people who have remarried.

This takes what is already being practiced in many Catholic parishes in Germany out of the gray area. This also brings security for the blessing, who can no longer be disciplinary prosecuted in the future. At the same time, a central demand of the majority of German Catholics who want reforms in their church will be met. In a first step, a joint commission headed by the bishops’ conference and the umbrella organization of the Catholic laity is to draw up a handout.

With the decision, the assembly opposes a requirement from the Vatican. In 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith determined that blessing same-sex couples was “not allowed”. However, the bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny, reported shortly before the vote in the synod hall in Frankfurt that the Belgian bishops had introduced a corresponding regulation.

There was no veto from the Vatican. Rather, Pope Francis only asked whether the entire bishops’ conference was behind the decision. That is the case. There is no such unanimity within the German Bishops’ Conference. It therefore remains to be seen how Rome will react to the decision of the Synodal Assembly.

Jürgen Erbacher is head of the ZDF editorial office Church and Life Catholic.

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