Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx says he can certainly imagine blessing homosexual couples himself. “Why not?” he said in an interview with “Münchner Merkur” when asked whether he would bless a homosexual couple if asked.
“It always depends on the respective situation. If people ask me for a blessing, then I will do that,” said the Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
Blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples are already practiced in many communities today, but they take place in a gray area under canon law. The Vatican made it clear in 2021 that it was “not permitted” to bless homosexual partnerships because such unions “cannot be recognized as objectively aligned with the revealed plans of God.”
Blessings for same-sex couples
However, the approval of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples was a main demand for the German Synodal Path reform process and was decided by the Synodal Assembly in March. The celebrations should now be introduced “promptly”.
The case of a priest from Mettmann near Düsseldorf who held a blessing ceremony for lovers – including homosexual couples – and was reprimanded for it by the Archdiocese of Cologne under the ultra-conservative Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki recently caused a wave of indignation. In protest against Woelki, several Catholic priests want to hold a blessing ceremony for same-sex couples in front of Cologne Cathedral on September 20th.
“We have seen that there are couples who cannot receive the sacrament of marriage from a church perspective. But it cannot be the case that they are excluded from pastoral care because of this,” emphasized Marx, who turns 70 this Thursday (September 21st). is in the “Merkur” interview. “We want to provide a handout at the level of the bishops’ conference. But the pastors don’t have to wait for that: If people who love each other ask for a blessing, the pastors will find a way to deal with it well and do it.”
