German bishops issue guide for same-sex blessings
April 24, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: The Catholic bishops of Germany have issued guidelines for pastors giving blessings to couples living in irregular situations, including same-sex couples.
“Non-church married couples, divorced and remarried couples, and couples in all the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities are of course part of our society,” the bishops say, adding that any request for a priest’s blessing should be recognized as “an an expression of gratitude for their love and an expression of the desire to shape this love from faith.”
The blessing, the bishops’ guidelines state, is given “at the service of the divine-human encounter,” and in “the hope of a relationship with God that can sustain human life.” While not specifying the form that the church blessing should take, the bishops say that it would “express the appreciation of the people who have asked for the blessing, their togetherness and their faith.”
The guidelines are a response to the 2023 Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which opened the way for church blessings of same-sex couples.
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