A majority of Germany's bishops voted on Friday at the Synodal Path, a series of high-level conferences organised in Frankfurt by the German Catholic Church, in support of a proposal to offer blessings to same-sex couples.
Thirty-eight (38) bishops voted in favour, 9 voted against and 12 abstained.
Earlier, bishops and lay representatives held another meeting at which they voted by 176 votes to 14, with 12 abstentions, for the church to bless same-sex unions. That gathering was also part of the Synodal Path process, which has been underway since 2019 and is considered a test of the Catholic Church’s ability to change in Germany.
The celebration of gay unions is to be introduced in March 2026. The three years until then should be used to create forms and the liturgical form of the ceremony in consultation with the bishops.
The approval of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples has been a key requirement for the Synodal Path reform process.
Such ceremonies are already practised in many communities today, but they take place in a grey area of canon law. It was precisely this grey area that many synod members criticised. “It is time to take blessing celebrations out of living rooms and secret meetings in a church,” participants said.
From now on, priests who give blessings need not fear sanctions. Divorced people who have remarried should also be allowed to be blessed.
Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny reported at the synod meeting on the blessing celebrations for same-sex couples already being done in Belgium. This happened relatively quietly, he reported, explaining that it was all agreed informally with the Vatican and Pope Francis.
Bishop Bonny recalled that the Pope had told him: “It’s your decision.” He felt it was important that the bishops were behind it.
The synodal path of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics, which began in 2019, is a consequence of the sex abuse scandal.
It seeks reforms in four areas: the handling of power, Catholic sexual morality, the position of women and the compulsory celibacy of priests.
