Cardinal Marx changes Catholic morals

The cultural life of Bavaria is still shaped by the Catholic Church. Its Cardinal Reinhard Marx opens the exhibition "Damned Desire" at the beginning of the final sprint of the "Synodal Path".

What a week, especially from the point of view of the Catholic Church in Bavaria! It will end this Saturday with a kind of final grade of the "Synodal Path" reform movement in Frankfurt. But she started in Freising. With a clash of cymbals, performed by Reinhard Marx, who, as cardinal and archbishop of the diocese of Munich and Freising, is known to be committed to the path of reform, but who was particularly specific on March 4 on Domberg.

He's standing on the podium between a bunch of young musicians from the Jazzrausch Bigband and opening the exhibition "Damned Desire" about the connection between body, church and art. "Catholic teaching about sexuality is a Catholic trauma," he says with his own force, addressing the abuse scandal and more. "Sexuality is an existential part of life," but in the church it was "reduced or inhibited." Marx also names who is responsible for this "impoverishment of the view of sexuality" and the "hostility to pleasure": "It's celibate men who decide!"

Marx puts an end to the fact that the Church has preached sexuality as a pure - well, maybe rather impure - means to the end of procreation. Some people in the hall got a red shimmer on their cheeks when the cardinal tells what he recently asks proud parents at confirmations: "Can you remember the conception?" "Then," Marx continues, "it's always very quiet." Uptightness was yesterday, he obviously wants to signal with the anecdote. In any case, sexuality is “much more than sleeping together”. It is "a form of expression in many ways. Of tenderness, desire, longing, disappointment." And of course all this also exists in "homosexuality".

Clarity. On Monday, two days later, the news reported that Marx had lost his seat on Pope Francis' closest council. Of course, that would have happened without the speech. The synodal path has powerful opponents. Marx also mentions the "great discussion" about the fact that the text on sexuality did not find the two-thirds majority of the bishops in this context. "However, 60 percent approved a text that would not have been on the agenda of the Bishops' Conference 20 or 30 years ago." He does not share the opinion that it is too late for that. "I think it's never too late to start thinking about this." For example about art. And that is comparatively easy. And pretty.

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