Germany’s Synodal Way is a conference made up of laymen and bishops. It voted last week for the blessing of same-sex couple. This defies a March 2021 responsum approved by Pope Francis, which declared that the Church “cannot curse sin.”
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Rome is being challenged by the bishops. Interview with German media, Bishop Georg Batzing stated that homosexual couples, divorced and remarried couples, and couples asking for blessings are all welcome. God can bless anything that is good between two people.
This rejects the reasoning of the Dicastery of the Doctrine the Faith (and, by extension, Pope Francis) in the March responsum. In which they held positive elements in same-sex relationships could not justify them and make them legitimate objects for an ecclesial blessing since the positive elements are found within the context of a union that is not ordered according to the Creator’s plan.
Francis said that he doesn’t fear Schism. He might have one.
