Double dealing by Cardinal. Letter on blessing for same-sex couples kept secret but leaked

Marx's letter on blessing ceremonies was an "internal document"

No publication in the Official Gazette planned

Spokesperson Confirms: Marx's letter was an internal recommendation; unlike in other dioceses, there will be no official publication of the blessing guidelines.

Blessing ceremonies for "couples in irregular situations" in the Catholic Church have an "official-unofficial" character by their very nature. According to the Roman declaration "Fiducia Supplicans," they should take place "spontaneously" and must under no circumstances become a "liturgical or semi-liturgical act."

With the guidelines "Blessing gives strength to love," the German bishops have attempted to shift the deliberately ambiguous matter more toward formalization.

This, in turn, prompted the responsible cardinal in the Vatican, Víctor Manuel Fernández, to publicly emphasize that Rome had not "approved" this approach; "any form of ritualization" was out of the question.

The German bishops, for their part, had managed to "take note" of the guidelines without, however, adopting a "formal resolution."

As part of the "monitoring" of the Synodal Path's decisions, a survey was conducted some time ago to determine whether the dioceses had "introduced" the guidelines in question.

The "Tagespost" has now published a letter from Cardinal Reinhard Marx in which he "recommends" the guidelines to the clergy of his Archdiocese of Munich. The letter, dated April 10, 2026, and obtained by COMMUNIO, is addressed to priests, deacons, and pastoral staff but was not published by the Archdiocese.

It is "an internal document," as a spokesperson for the Archdiocese confirmed to COMMUNIO. There are no plans for official publication of the guidelines—as has occurred in some other German dioceses—saying, "Publication in the official gazette is not planned."

The guidelines have already been published in the official gazettes of the dioceses of Limburg, Osnabrück, and Aachen, and publication was planned in the Diocese of Trier. This is the most "official" way of introducing them. Cardinal Marx, on the other hand, has chosen a rather unofficial approach. The fact that the "Bild" newspaper ran the headline "Church Revolution: Marx orders blessings for same-sex couples" was certainly not what he had in mind.

The delicate balancing act surrounding the blessing ceremonies is far from over.

Source