A same-sex marriage or a new marriage after the divorce is no longer a reason for the approximately 800,000 employees of the Catholic Church in Germany to be dismissed.
As the German Bishops' Conference announced on Tuesday in Bonn, the General Assembly of the Association of German Dioceses passed a corresponding new version of church labor law with the required majority.
Each diocese must implement this individually for the rules to become legally binding.
In the past few decades, Catholic labor law, which in contrast to general labor law has also affected private life, has repeatedly led to terminations and transfers.
For example, a chief physician at a Catholic hospital in Düsseldorf led a year-long legal battle because he had been fired because of a new marriage.
Same-sex marriages were considered a breach of loyalty or grounds for termination - the Out in Church initiative made public a number of cases at the beginning of the year where this had led to massive disadvantages for Catholic employees.
Leaving the church remains a reason for termination
The new so-called basic order of church service reforms the basic order that has been in force since 2015.
Recently, the core area of private life has escaped the reach of a Catholic employer.
According to the new law, membership in the Catholic Church is only a criterion for hiring if it is necessary for the post in question - for example for pastoral workers.
However, leaving the Catholic Church remains an exclusion criterion for employment or even a reason for termination.
The same applies to anti-church activities.