The president of Germany’s bishops’ conference said on Saturday that he will continue to bless gay couples who request it despite the Vatican’s ban, ruling out any possibility of a schism in the German church.
“I do not rule out the possibility of blessing gay couples who believe and ask for God’s blessing”said Georg Baetzing 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 Way has been discussed, a forum for dialogue of the German Church in search of formulas to overcome the crisis experienced by the Catholic Church, shaken by scandals of sexual abuse of minors.
In these months, proposals such as the abolition of compulsory celibacy, women’s access to the priesthood and questions about homosexuality have caused unrest 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 today’s press conference, the chairman of the German bishops defended that “the church must change”.
“We cannot continue as before, it is about passing on the Gospel message here and now, and not always looking to the past, even at the risk of a wounded church”said.
At Friday’s meeting, according to a Vatican statement, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin “referred to the concerns raised by the synodal path, pointing to the risk of ‘reforms of the Church and not of the Church'”.
In this regard, Georg Baetzing assured that, although there are different opinions, the road is taken together.
“We are not following any 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: DN
