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Nationwide “blessing services for lovers” take place in Catholic churches on Monday - also for homosexual couples, although the Vatican recently expressly forbade this. In total, there are around 100 church services, some of which were held on Sunday. An action of this kind and magnitude has not yet taken place in the Church. The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, is not fundamentally against such blessings, but has criticized the initiative: Blessing services are "not suitable as an instrument for church political manifestations or protest actions".
One of the initiators, Pastor Bernd Mönkebüscher from Hamm, contradicted this. Of course, church services should not be instrumentalized. "On the other hand, every service is political," said Mönkebüscher of the German press agency. “Now in this context, I find that the services are a solidarity with all those who feel offended by this no from Rome. The word 'protest' was never used by the initiators. ”That only appeared in Bätzing's statement.
In March, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made it clear that "it is not permissible" to bless homosexual partnerships because such relationships "cannot be recognized as being objectively aligned with God's revealed plans".
Numerous Catholic associations and over 280 theology professors protested against this in German-speaking countries.
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The Bund der Katholischen Jugend (BDKJ) expressed its solidarity with pastors on Sunday, “who do not refuse to bless same-sex couples for reasons of conscience”.
In addition, the BDKJ general assembly called on the bishops in Germany to “introduce a rite of blessing for same-sex relationships in their dioceses”.
Mönkebüscher said the blessing services, but also the many rainbow flags on the churches and the protest with signature lists are visible signs of broad resistance to the Vatican's ban. “What Rome has now said was not new. It was hoped, however, that it would no longer be said. And one had hoped that if Rome would express itself again on such a topic, it would be more moderate and open. ”Unfortunately, one was disappointed in that.