More than 100 German priests are protesting against the Vatican this week by openly blessing same-sex couples.
This week, German Catholics are finally saying #YesHomo.
The blessings at open worship services are the latest pushback from German Catholics Vatican orders released in March by the Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The document said Catholic clergy-members could not bless same-sex unions because God “cannot bless sin”, alienating LGBTQI Catholics around the globe, and prompting backlash that the church has lost touch with reality.
Christian Olding, a priest in the western city of Geldern, said that the decision to protest against the Vatican comes from the blind hypocrisy of teaching Catholics that ‘god is love’.
“If we say that God is love, I cannot tell people who embrace loyalty, unity and responsibility to each other that theirs is not love, that it’s a fifth-or sixth-class love,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“I look forward to the blessing. We’re going have all forms of relationships: Classic heterosexual marriages, divorced and remarried couples, unmarried couples and yes, also same-sex couples.
“We’re going have the whole diversity of love.”
‘Love Wins’: Meet the German priests who are defying the Vatican by blessing same-sex couples pic.twitter.com/0f2HVVQkV7
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 12, 2021
The ‘Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’ said Catholic clergy-members could not bless same-sex unions because God: “does not and cannot bless sin,” prompting particular criticism over Pope Francis, who previously endorsed same-sex civil unions in an interview for a documentary.
The German church has been especially vocal on ongoing LGBTQI issues, including the church’s teachings on homosexuality.
Now, dozens of church services celebrating blessings of gay unions are the latest escalation in tensions between conservative and progressive Catholics, that part of the German church might be heading into schism.
The last major schism in Germany happened more than 500 years ago, when Martin Luther launched the iconic ‘Reformation’ that gave rise to Protestantism.
German priests defy Pope Francis with blessings of same-sex unions https://t.co/ct5RI6DPKV pic.twitter.com/GjJe9ZjD8m
— Ottawa Citizen (@OttawaCitizen) May 12, 2021
In Berlin, Reverend Jan Korditschke, a Jesuit who works for the diocese preparing adults for baptism, will lead blessings for LGBTQI couples at a public worship service on May 16.
“I am convinced that homosexual orientation is not bad, nor is homosexual love a sin,” Korditschke told The Associated Press.
“I want to celebrate the love of homosexuals with these blessings because the love of homosexuals is something good.”
