Cardinal Marx instructs priests to offer blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples
Cardinal Reinhard Marx has instructed priests and full-time pastoral workers in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising to adopt the controversial guideline "Blessing Gives Strength to Love" as a basis for pastoral care. Those who do not wish to perform such blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples or remarried divorcees themselves are to refer the couples to the dean or other pastoral staff. A letter from the Cardinal, reported on Monday by "Die Tagespost," states that the guideline should become "the basis for pastoral action." Starting in June, the "Queer Pastoral Care" and the Marriage and Family Pastoral Care departments will offer training courses on conducting blessing ceremonies for all full-time pastoral staff. Marx emphasized that "the blessing is not the celebration of a sacramental marriage." However, this does not mean "that blessing a non-sacramental union, which in many cases is already a civil marriage, marginalizes ...
