The German bishops defy the Vatican and will continue to bless gay couples although they rule out a schism

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The president of the German Bishops' Conference,

, has indicated that they will not stop blessing same-sex couples who are believers, contrary to

guidelines , but has ruled out the possibility of schism.

"I will not take away the possibility for same-sex couples who believe and ask for God's blessing to be blessed," said the president of the German Bishops' Conference at a press conference after his meetings with the

and the

during the visited 'ad limina' by the German prelates to the Vatican.

The Vatican prohibited in February 2021 any ecclesiastical blessing to homosexual couples, as well as any rite comparable to marriage between a man and a woman.

," said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in a document at the time.

In fact, the first to confront this issue were the Belgian bishops, who officially asked the Vatican to contemplate the blessing of the union of same-sex couples and established that, in each diocese, a person dedicated to pastoral care would be designated. of homosexual people.

Although, they made it clear that this blessing would be clearly differentiated from sacramental marriage.

Archbishop Baetzing led the delegation of the German bishops this week to explain to the members of the Curia the issues that have been dealt with in the

that began in 2019, before the global convocation of the Synod called in 2021 by the Pope, and which was raised as a process in which German laity and religious, also bishops, debated proposals for change in the Catholic Church, some controversies, such as rethinking sexual morality on homosexuality or the female priesthood.

Baetzing has responded to questions from journalists about whether he was going to prevent bishops and priests from continuing to bless gay couples after these meetings in the Vatican.

After assuring that she will not prevent it, she has indicated that the Church must change.

"You cannot continue as before,

, and not always looking to the past, even at the risk of a bruised Church", she pointed out.

However, he has ruled out any risk of a schism after guaranteeing that the Church in Germany "does not go it alone and will not make decisions that would only be possible in the context of the universal Church."

"CATHOLICS IN ANOTHER WAY"

"For none of the bishops, schism is an option. We are and continue to be Catholics and we want to be Catholics in another way. These are things that are said from outside to scare and intimidate. We will never allow this to be attributed to us," he clarified.

However, he pointed out that the

"wants and must give answers to the questions that the faithful ask themselves."

In the same way, he described the meeting with the Pope on Thursday as "encouraging" and thanked the members of the Curia for "openly expressing the reservations that exist in

."

"I am also grateful that the concerns and opinions of our

- on the entire range of issues - were heard," he stressed.

The 62 bishops of the Catholic Church in Germany met with the heads of some of the Departments of the Roman Curia in a meeting, without the Pope, which was moderated by the Secretary of State, Cardinal

, who, when introducing the works He recalled "the bond of communion and love that unites the Bishops among themselves and with the

", but also mentioned "the concerns that the Synodal Path arouses, indicating the risk of reforms of the Church and not in the Church".

Parolin also warned of the risk of reforming the Church but not from within the Church.

Along these lines, both the prefect of the Department for the Doctrine of the Faith,

, and the prefect of the Department for Bishops,

, expressed "their concerns and reservations regarding the methodology, content, and proposals of the Way Synod, proposing, for the benefit of the unity of the Church and its evangelizing mission, that the requests that have arisen up to now be included in the Synod of the universal Church".

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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