In Germany, Catholic bishops call for blessing of same-sex unions

A meeting between Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives on Friday agreed to call on the church to approve the blessing of same-sex unions.

The three-day gathering, which is part of a “Synodal Path” launched in 2019 in response to the sex abuse crisis rocking the Church in Germany and several other countries, brings together more than 200 representatives of Catholic life in Germany.

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Starting in March 2026, a majority of the 176 participants voted in favor of same-sex blessings. Fourteen participants voted against him, while 12 abstained. Importantly, the necessary two-thirds support of 67 German bishops had also been achieved, news agency DPA reported.

Catholic bishops and lay representatives in Germany called on the church to recognize same-sex unions at a meeting on Friday. (Fox News)

Many congregations already perform such ceremonies, but these are not formally approved by the Catholic Church, a status that was restored by the Vatican in 2021.

In an attempt to allay concerns from Rome, German church leaders insisted that the process would not trigger a schism.

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However, Pope Francis himself said in a January interview with The Associated Press that the process could be harmfully “ideological”.

For the global Catholic Church, the pontiff has called for a two-part synod, or assembly, that will bring together bishops and laity to discuss the future direction of the church and ways to revitalize its mission.

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At the same time, German bishops face pressure from disaffected grassroots Catholics, where Christians are roughly evenly divided between Protestant and Catholic.