German Catholics are defying the Vatican’s ban on same-sex blessings
The Vatican has previously said the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions.
Words by Alastair James; picture: Pixabay
Catholic ministers in Germany are pushing back against a recent decree from the Vatican banning them from blessing same-sex civil unions.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed in March that clergy can’t bless the unions in a church setting them because God “cannot bless sin”.
However, German progressives are pushing back, AP reports.
Reverend Jan Korditschke, based in Berlin, says he is “convinced that homosexual orientation is not bad, nor is homosexual love a sin.”
The Jesuit minister adds: “I want to celebrate the love of homosexuals with these blessings because the love of homosexuals is something good.”
“I want to celebrate the love of homosexuals.”
Korditschke will be leading a blessing on 16 May.
The Vatican statement in March approved by Pope Francis said the LGBTQ community should be welcomed with “respect and sensitivity,” but that marriages under “God’s plan” should be between a man and a woman to create new life.
The move by the Vatican was criticised by more progressive members of the church, who argue the Pope has softened the church’s stance on the LGBTQ community.
In October 2020, the Pope appeared to express support for non-religious same-sex unions and in 2013 when asked about gay priests he replied: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?”
But the Pontiff, 83, has also called for gay priests to leave the Catholic church in the past.
In his 2018 book, The Strength of Vocation, Pope Francis likened homosexuality to a modern and “fashionable” mentality and called for people with the “ingrained tendency” shouldn’t be accepted into ministry life.