Beginning Monday, priests in more than a hundred Catholic churches throughout Germany will bless same-sex couples even after the Catholic Church declared in March that “God cannot bless sin,” the Love Wins movement arose.
Pope Francis has previously stated that same-sex couples should be permitted to form “civil unions.”
The head of the Catholic Church declared in a documentary last year that these couples “have a right to be in a family.”
He has, however, agreed with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the Catholic Church lacks the authority to bless same-sex marriages. Because A blessing is granted in the name of the Catholic Church by a priest or another minister.
The Pope said at the time that the Vatican’s response was “not intended to be a form of unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the reality of the liturgical rite.” Love Wins, on the other hand, called the Church’s refusal to bless same-sex couples “a slap in the face for people all over the world.”
The movement has created a map that shows all of the churches that will be offering blessings throughout the coming days.Large numbers of German priests and church workers have also signed a petition urging the Church to bless gay and lesbian couples, and several parishes have posted rainbow flags outside their churches.
According to Damien McGuinness in Berlin, the Catholic Church in Germany is more tolerant and prosperous than in many other nations, and the Vatican would find it difficult to ignore the increasingly vocal acceptance of gay couples. Still, In Germany, same-sex marriage has been legal since 2017, and so-called “sexual conversion therapy” for children under the age of 18 has been prohibited.
