The president of the German Bishops’ Conference said Saturday that he will continue to bless gay couples who ask for it, despite the Vatican’s prohibition, ruling out any possibility of schism in the German church.
“I do not rule out the possibility of blessing homosexual couples who believe and ask for God’s blessing,” Georg Baetzing said at a press conference in Rome, after the visit of the German bishops to the Pope and a meeting with the Curia.
During these meetings, the so-called Synodal Path was addressed, a dialogue forum of the German church in the search for formulas to overcome the crisis that the Catholic Church is experiencing, shaken by scandals of sexual abuse of minors.
In recent months, proposals have been put forward such as the end of compulsory celibacy, the access of women to the priesthood and the questioning of homosexuality, which has generated discomfort in the Vatican and fears of a schism in the German Church. In the religious context, schism is a division between people, usually belonging to a religious organization, movement or denomination.
During the press conference this Saturday, the president of the German bishops defended that “the church must change.” “We cannot continue as before, it is about transmitting the Gospel message here and now, and not always looking to the past, even at the risk of a wounded Church,” he said.
During the meeting on Friday, according to a Vatican statement, the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, “referred to the concerns raised by the Synodal Path, pointing out the risk of ‘reforms of the Church and not in the Church’.”
In this regard, Georg Baetzing assured that although there are different opinions, the path is taken together. “We are not taking a particular path and we are not making decisions that we do not want for the entire universal Church,” he said.
The meetings arose from the need to continue the dialogue between the Vatican and the German Church.
Source: Observadora
