Head of German Bishops implements Guidelines for Blessings for All who Love One Another for his Diocese

Blessings for all who love one another – that was the wish of the Synodal Path. The guidelines developed for this purpose are now to be officially implemented in the Diocese of Limburg.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg recommends the implementation of the guidelines on blessings for couples who cannot or do not want to marry in church. The diocese officially published the document in the current Official Gazette (Wednesday). The guidelines, "Blessings Give Strength to Love. Blessings for Couples Who Love One Another," were adopted in April by the Joint Conference of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). The Joint Conference cannot make decisions that are binding for the Church in Germany or the dioceses. Bätzing now recommends implementation following the votes of the diocesan team, the pastoral council, and the diocesan synodal council: "I encourage pastors to make use of the opportunities this guide provides for organizing blessing ceremonies for couples."

The blessing paper originates from a mandate from the Synodal Path. After the Vatican relaxed the ban on blessings of homosexual relationships with "Fiducia supplicans" in December 2023, these changes were also incorporated. The suggestions summarized in the paper are intended as an offer for "divorced and remarried people, couples of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and couples who do not want or cannot receive the sacrament of marriage for other reasons." The guideline follows the "pastoral approach of the pontificate of Pope Francis," it was stated at the presentation.

Beyond the recommendation, the Diocese of Limburg has not issued any further guidelines for the use of the manual. At the end of June, the Diocese of Osnabrück had already printed the text of the resolution in its official gazette. However, in Osnabrück, blessings administered according to this document are to be statistically recorded. For this purpose, an anonymous and a personalized survey form have been developed to record blessings of couples and report them to the department responsible for church reporting in the Episcopal Vicariate General.

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