Status: 05.02.2022 3:03 p.m
The Synodal Path reform project demands that the Catholic Church also bless homosexual couples. Pastors who conduct blessing celebrations should no longer face disciplinary consequences.
The synodal path calls for blessing celebrations to be made possible for all couples in love. Homosexuals and divorced people who have remarried civilly should also be able to have their relationship blessed by the Catholic Church. The majority of around 215 participants in the plenary assembly of the reform project on the future of the Catholic Church in Germany agreed in Frankfurt on a corresponding motion in the first reading.
In it, the synodal assembly calls on the bishops to officially allow blessing celebrations in their dioceses for couples “who want to love and bond, but for whom sacramental marriage is not accessible or who they do not want to enter into”.
Pastors who carry out such a blessing celebration should no longer face disciplinary consequences. The paper emphasizes that a refusal to “bless two people who want to live their partnership in love, commitment and responsibility to one another and to God” cannot be “convincingly justified in terms of theology of grace”.
suffering and conflicts of conscience
During the debate, many synods emphasized that there are a large number of people who suffer when the Church refuses to bless their romantic relationship. Some referred to the problem when pastoral workers follow their conscience to bless such couples, but this contradicts the teaching guidelines.
Conservatives objected that there was no really open atmosphere in which to discuss the topic controversially.
There is further need for discussion on the question of whether there should be prerequisites for the couples before the blessing ceremony, such as discussions with pastors or seminars.
“Reassessment of homosexuality” demanded
The General Assembly had previously passed a motion recommending that the Pope carry out a “doctrinal specification and reassessment of homosexuality”. Lived out same-sex sexuality is not a sin and “should not be judged as bad in itself,” according to the paper. “Since the homosexual orientation is part of the identity of man as created by God, it is ethically fundamentally no different than any other sexual orientation.”
In the previous debate, there was agreement that there should be no discrimination against homosexuals in the church.