Catholic priests in Germany are blessing same-sex couples in defiance of the Pope Francis
The blessing ceremonies, many of which were scheduled for Monday, are in response to the Vatican’s statement in March prohibiting priests from blessing gay marriages.
A priest in Munich blessed 30 couples, including 10 same-sex couples, during an event on Sunday after receiving threatening emails before the ceremony, according to the Journal.
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The blessings are scheduled for about 100 churches across the country this month, the newspaper reported.
The move in Germany comes after an Austrian group called the Parish Priests Initiative vowed to bless same-sex unions. Some priests in the U.S. have done the same as well.
04/03/2021 at 3:46 PM Posted by Kevin Edward White
Just as they did in 1968, Catholic dissidents push alternate narrative ahead of official Church teaching.
By Judy Roberts, National Catholic Register, March 31, 2021
For Catholics who welcomed the Vatican’s recent statement barring blessings of same-sex unions, the flurry of objections that followed has seemed eerily reminiscent of the outcry against the 1968 encyclical
Humanae Vitae.
Just as St. Paul VI’s letter articulating the Church’s stance against artificial contraception was met with vociferous opposition from those who had hoped for a change, so those who want the Church to alter its views on homosexuality and marriage expressed open dismay with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s March 15 statement. And in both instances, some of the resistance has emanated from theologians, religious and priests, and higher levels of the Church even some bishops and cardinals.
Did Pope Francis undercut the Vatican ruling on same-sex marriage?
Terry Mattingly
After a media firestorm ignited by a Vatican condemnation of same-sex unions – because God cannot bless sin – Catholic progressives immediately looked for hope in the words of bishops, President Joe Biden and even Pope Francis.
In his Sunday Angelus address after the March 15 ruling, the pope stressed that modern seekers want to see Jesus in acts of love, not persecution.
Catholics must promote a life that takes upon itself the style of God – closeness, compassion and tenderness, said the pope. It means sowing seeds of love, not with fleeting words but through concrete, simple and courageous examples, not with theoretical condemnations, but with gestures of love. Then the Lord, with his grace, makes us bear fruit, even when the soil is dry due to misunderstandings, difficulty or persecution, or claims of legalism or clerical moralism.
After a media firestorm ignited by a Vatican condemnation of same-sex unions because God cannot bless sin Catholic progressives immediately looked for hope in the words of bishops, President Joe Biden and even Pope Francis.
In his Sunday Angelus address after the March 15 ruling, the pope stressed that modern seekers want to see Jesus in acts of love, not persecution.
Catholics must promote a life that takes upon itself the style of God closeness, compassion and tenderness, said the pope. It means sowing seeds of love, not with fleeting words but through concrete, simple and courageous examples; not with theoretical condemnations, but with gestures of love. Then the Lord, with his grace, makes us bear fruit, even when the soil is dry due to misunderstandings, difficulty or persecution, or claims of legalism or clerical moralism.