The Synodal Way voted on a text to implement the blessing of “irregular” couples – divorced and remarried, cohabiting, and homosexual. The Curia sometimes reacted, but never beyond a warning or reprimand, leaving the process unchecked, to such an extent that one must speak of complicity.
On December 18, 2023, astonishment gripped the Catholic world: less than three years after the Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirming that the Church does not have the power to bless “irregular” couples, because it cannot bless evil, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) published a declaration affirming the opposite, signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez.
Reactions were swift and widespread, with a refusal to implement the declration, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where episcopal conferences rejected a text that would forever remain a source of shame for the DDF and its cardinal prefect. The protest was so strong and widespread that it forced the exemption of numerous African dioceses. Moreover, the protest extended well beyond the African continent.
But in Germany, the reactions are overwhelmingly positive, even enthusiastic. The only grumbling comes from those who would have preferred outright recognition of same-sex unions by the Church. A few conservative voices are lamenting the situation. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, for his part, admits: “I didn’t think such a signal would come so quickly.”
What he adds is revealing: it’s a small step for German Catholics, “but in the universal Church, this possibility is enormous,” he comments. He goes on to say that each culture must develop its own rules of application: “For us, we are already working on that.” Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the DBK, believes the text provides the necessary certainty for action.
Thus, the Church in Germany takes what is given and makes it bear fruit. Some then thought that this declaration might undermine the German synodal vanguard: this was a mistake; it only reinforced its misguided approach. From now on, the wind driving the synodal path on this issue of illegitimate blessings blows from Rome.
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