Guidelines for Blessings for Couples who Love Each Other from German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics
Blessing Gives Strength to Love
Blessings for Couples Who Love Each Other
Handbook for Pastors
Resolution Text of the Joint Conference of April 4, 2025
"The Church wishes to proclaim the message of the God-given dignity of every person in word and deed. This message guides her dealings with people and their partnerships. Therefore, she recognizes and offers support to couples who are united in love, who treat each other with full respect and dignity, and who are willing to live their sexuality with care for themselves, for each other, and with social responsibility in the long term. There are couples who ask for a blessing for their partnership. This request is based on gratitude for the love they have experienced and the hope of a future accompanied by God." (1) Based on this concern, the Synodal Assembly of the Synodal Path of the German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) recommended that couples who are not To facilitate blessing ceremonies for those who wish to enter into a church-sacramental marriage or for whom such a marriage is not open. The issue of blessings for couples has occupied the Catholic Church in Germany for some time. Couples not married in the church, divorced and remarried couples, as well as couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities are naturally part of our society. Quite a few of these couples desire a blessing for their relationship.(2) Such a request is an expression of gratitude for their love and an expression of the desire to shape this love from faith. Until now, there has been no general guidance on how pastoral caregivers can effectively address this concern.
The resolution of the Synodal Assembly therefore provided for the prompt submission of proposals jointly developed by the German Bishops' Conference and the ZdK for the framework and design of blessings. This manual fulfills this mandate.
Meanwhile, the universal Church's prerequisites for this concern have changed significantly: On December 18, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the approval of the Pope, published the declaration Fiducia supplicans – On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings (FS). This declaration distances itself from the previous categorical rejection of blessings for couples for whom a sacramental marriage is not possible. (3) In order to give greater effect to the pastoral approach of Pope Francis's pontificate in this matter as well, the declared intention of Fiducia supplicans is to "coherently combine doctrinal aspects with pastoral aspects" (FS 3).
At the same time, the declaration encourages a more intensive consideration and appreciation of the significance of blessings as a whole. Blessings "invite us to grasp the presence of God in all the events of life and remind us that, even in the use of created things, man is called to seek God, to love him, and to serve him faithfully." (FS 8) With Pope Francis, Fiducia supplicans reminds us that, above all individual blessings, Jesus Christ himself is "God's great blessing." He is God's great gift, "a blessing for all humanity; he is a blessing that has saved us all." (FS 1) Thus, the request for a blessing is always accompanied by thanksgiving and praise for God's goodness and greatness, for his gifts and blessings, for the gift of life and love (cf. FS 10.15.29); "The request for a blessing expresses and nourishes openness to transcendence, piety, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, and that is no small feat in the world in which we live. This is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured and not hindered." (FS 33)
The text of the Synodal Path expresses this very similarly when it points out that couples' request for a blessing makes it clear "that people want to shape their relationship within the horizon of God and, in doing so, orient themselves towards the Good News. Strengthened by the blessing, these couples make their Christian faith and their relationship with God fruitful in their partnership, in their families, circles of friends, and congregations, and sow the seeds for further blessing in and for our Church." (SW 20, No. 21)
In our culture and society, in which human dignity, equality, and self-determination are highly valued and which therefore enjoys a great deal of acceptance for diverse couple constellations borne by love and responsibility, the idea that Fiducia supplicans first enunciated in a Magisterial document can only be strengthened: Everything that is "true, good, and humanly valid" in such a shared life and in these relationships is "enriched, healed, and exalted by the presence of the Holy Spirit." (FS 31) For whenever people ask for a blessing, they express a request for God's help in being able to live the values of the Gospel with greater fidelity (cf. FS 40).
“This request should be appreciated in every way, accompanied by gratitude, and welcomed with gratitude." (FS 21) At the same time, blessings, as expressions of faith, enrich the life of the Church and deepen the understanding of the relationship between God and humanity. Thus, blessings become "a pastoral resource that must be utilized." (FS 23)
On this basis, the following practical suggestions emerge:
• According to the resolution of the Synodal Path, both ordained ministers and persons with a bishop's commission to perform worship can perform blessings. (SW 20, No. 7)
• With regard to the situational design and formulation of the blessing, Fiducia supplicans relies on the experience, pastoral wisdom, and pastoral empathy of those giving the blessing. (FS 35 and 41) All persons who request a blessing should be approached with an attitude of respect.
• Fiducia supplicans expressly points out that there is no other prerequisite for requesting and bestowing a blessing than shared trust in God's support. (cf. FS 12 and 25)
• Pastors who nevertheless come to the conclusion that a blessing is not in accordance with their conscience or are unsure about it should refer the couple requesting a blessing to supportive persons (e.g., representatives for queer pastoral care, marriage and family pastoral care of the diocese).
• Appropriate training should be offered for pastoral workers.
• As decided, experiences with blessings for couples who love each other will be evaluated. (cf. SW 20 No. 10)
• The blessings of couples who love each other can and should be characterized by greater spontaneity and freedom with regard to the life situation of those who request the blessing. For this reason, no approved liturgical celebrations or prayers are planned for the blessings.
• The blessings should be designed in such a way that there is no confusion with the liturgical celebration of the sacrament of marriage.
• The blessing symbolically enacts an event between God and people. It should be clear that people are asking for God's blessing for their relationship, which is reliably granted to them.
• Blessing is also an act of the Church, which places itself at the service of divine-human encounter. The Church takes seriously the couple's desire to place their further life path under God's blessing. It sees in the request for blessing the hope of a relationship with God that can sustain human life. To encourage the couple in this hope, as many as possible who participate in the blessing participate in concert with the leader through acclamation, prayer, and song. • The blessing requires joint consideration, taking into account the couple's wishes and concerns regarding the respective setting and appropriate design, and incorporating them in a theologically meaningful way. The greater spontaneity and freedom of these blessings should be combined with careful preparation.
• The manner in which the blessing is led, the location, the overall aesthetic, including music and singing, should express appreciation for the people who ask for the blessing, their togetherness, and their faith.
• Through words from the Holy Scriptures, the relationship between God's act of salvation of God and the blessing. Situationally appropriate Biblical texts should therefore be recited and, if necessary, interpreted during the blessing.
• The prayer of blessing addresses the biblically attested God and remembers his history in praise and and thanksgiving of his history with mankind and the whole of creation. This should be followed by the prayer of blessing for the couple. The prayer of blessing concludes with praise to God.
Whom God blesses, he "makes his face shine upon". The Holy Scripture is convinced of this (cf. Num 6:24 ff.). To be blessed by God means to live the path of life under God's loving gaze. We do not have to and should not walk this path alone. We are allowed to walk it with the with the people God has placed at our side, surrounded and supported by the great community of believers of all times.
1 Resolution of the Synodal Assembly of March 10, 2023: Action Text Blessing Ceremonies for Couples Who Love Each Other, in: The Synodal Path, 20. Resolutions of the Synodal Path of the Catholic Church in Germany, published by the Secretariat of the Synodal Path (Bonn 2023) 283 (full text: 283–290, cited: SW 20).
2 "It has become a widespread experience in pastoral practice that same-sex couples request a blessing for their partnership. Civilly remarried couples who are embarking on a new beginning in a new partnership do the same. Couples who do not yet feel ready for the sacrament of marriage do the same. Often, they do justice to the needs of a partnership in which only one partner is a believer or close to the Catholic Church. There is also increasing experience of unbaptized couples asking for a blessing." (SW 20, No. 13)
3 See the Responsum ad dubium of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of 22 February 2021 (AAS 113 [2021], 431–434)
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