Pope Leo XIV criticizes the blessing of homosexual couples in Germany

Catholic sexual teaching

Pope criticizes blessing of homosexual couples in Germany

On the flight home from Africa, the Pope comments on current issues. One of them concerns the church in Germany.

Pope Leo XIV has made critical comments about the blessing of homosexual couples by the Catholic Church in Germany. “The Holy See has already spoken to the German bishops,” said the church leader on the flight back to Rome from his trip to Africa. “The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples – in this case homosexual couples or couples in irregular situations – beyond what was permitted by Pope Francis when he said that everyone can receive the blessing.”

Leo was reacting to the former chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who had recently allowed the blessing of homosexual couples in his diocese of Munich and Freising. The basis for this is a recommendation from the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics from last year. The late Pope Francis allowed such blessings with restrictions at the end of 2023. His successor is critical of blessing celebrations.

Leo told fellow journalists on the flight home from Equatorial Guinea, the last stop of his African trip: “It is very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around issues of sexuality. We have a tendency to think that when the Church speaks of morality, it only speaks of sexual morality. In reality, I believe there are much bigger and more important issues such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion.”

On the subject of blessings for gay couples, the Pope added: “Francis’s” infamous phrase “tutti, tutti, tutti” (“all, all, all”) is an expression of the Catholic Church’s belief that all are welcome, that all are invited to follow Jesus and convert to the faith. If you go beyond that, I think it’s an issue that can cause more division than unity.” The Catholic Church in Africa in particular rejects the blessing of homosexual couples.

The head of 1.4 billion Catholics visited Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea in the past week and a half on his longest foreign trip to date. The next trip abroad is Spain in June. Leo was elected in May last year as the successor to the Argentinian Francis, the first pontiff in church history from the USA.