CV NEWS FEED // Rev. James Martin, SJ, shared another call from German clerics for the Church to allow blessings of same-sex relationships Friday.
Martin posted: “Head of the German Bishops Conference: ‘I believe that we must evaluate homosexuality and life partnerships outside of marriage in a new way,’ said Bätzing.”
Martin linked to a piece from the left-wing National Catholic Reporter (NCR) about a controversial push among German clerics for the Church to not only bless homosexual relationships, but change Catholic teachings on the matter.
Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, “said he would like to see further development of Catholic teaching on sexual ethics,” NCR reported.
The position of Pope Francis and the Vatican, which is only “the current state of church doctrine, said Bätzing,” the article explains:
“But this does not help, because for a long time now there has been a pastoral development which goes beyond it,” said the bishop. “And this means: A change is pending.”
In response to Martin’s post linking to the NCR piece, Fr. Matthew Schneider countered: “Blessing relationships based on homosexual acts is contrary to Catholic teaching & Vatican decrees,” and “pushing them now only creates greater division in the Church & confusion among the faithful.”