German Catholic priests will be able to bless unions of homosexual couples as of 2026, according to what was decided this Friday in Frankfurt by a conference of the Synodal Path, the dialogue forum created to promote the reform of the institution.
176 of the 202 members of the union, made up of bishops and laymen, voted in favor of carrying out these ceremonies, while 14 voted against and 12 abstained.
The blessings will not be introduced immediately, however, but after a period of three years, which will be used to establish, with the participation of the German Bishops’ Conference and other bodies, the exact liturgy of the ceremony, as well as other aspects formal.
As part of the same resolution, entitled Blessings for Loving Couples, the Synodal Path also approved blessings for heterosexual couples whose members have married civilly after a divorce.
Refusing to bless couples “who want to live their union in mutual love, obligation and responsibility and towards God” would be a lack of compassion and discriminatory, in addition to not being justified from a theological point of view, says the document.
In many German parishes, same-sex couples are already blessed, which however has so far occurred in a kind of limbo of church law and participating priests face possible sanctions.
The regularization of these blessings was one of the central demands of the Synodal Path, a reform forum founded in 2019 that has not shied away from confrontation with Rome and which advocates, among other things, to examine the practice of celibacy and to open to women delivering sermons.
The Vatican finally declared in 2021 that the blessing of homosexual couples is not allowed according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church and affirmed that these types of unions “cannot be objectively recognized as aligned with God’s revealed plans”.
The fifth and for now the last meeting of the Synodal Way decision-making union will conclude this Saturday in Frankfurt, after three days that have been eagerly awaited by both detractors and defenders of the reform process, which started as a result of the scandals of child abuse in the German Catholic Church.
On Thursday, according to the German media, Catholic women’s and youth organizations demonstrated in Frankfurt to demand the female priesthood and a more diverse Church with slogans such as “Jesus also had two fathers”, while conservative groups urged the Synodal Path to “not to do as Luther”.
