German Bishops Bless Same-sex Unions
The German Bishops’ Conference has endorsed a document urging Catholic bishops to permit same-sex blessings in their dioceses.
On March 10, during the fifth and final assembly of the Synodal Way conference in Frankfurt, 38 bishops voted in favor of the five-page document “Blessing Ceremonies for Couples Who Love Each Other”; nine bishops voted against it, and 11 abstained. The document directly contradicts a 2021 Vatican declaration, but the point of the Synodal Way conference was to emphasize that local bishops’ conferences should have more authority in determining Catholic doctrine than they currently possess.
Catholic schism: The German Bishops’ Conference is facing criticism from traditionalist clerics like German Cardinal Gerhard Müller and American Cardinal Raymond Burke, but no one has been excommunicated over this issue.
Pope Francis’s top aide clarified that the German Bishops’ Conference does not align with official Catholic doctrine. Still the Vatican seems reluctant to take corrective action since Germany’s richest diocese has greater assets than the Vatican. Pope Francis has taken a very reconciliatory approach in dealing with homosexuality within the Roman Catholic Church.
Church reform: Some Vatican watchers note that the pope must draw a line and excommunicate those who cross it sooner or later. But for now, he seems more concerned with undoing the last Protestant Reformation than precipitating the next Protestant Reformation. Francis has repeatedly reiterated over the last decade that synodality is the way of the church in the 21st century. And the new Vatican Constitution he unveiled last year emphasizes that “[t]he Roman Curia is not set between the pope and the bishops, but is at the service of both.” Whatever happens to the German Bishops’ Conference in the months ahead will result from decisions made by the pope, not the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Rising beast: The Bible uses a woman to symbolize a church (e.g. 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-27; Revelation 19:7). So Revelation 17 describes a church called “Mystery Babylon the Great” who rides a seven-headed beast representing the Holy Roman Empire. Elsewhere in Scripture, the leader of this false church is called “the false prophet” (Revelation 19:20). So just like the Holy Roman Empire is led by a singular church, that singular church is led by a singular man.
Keep watching for the pope to exert more authority over his church in the near future. We do not necessarily know what the Catholic Church will teach about same-sex unions in the end time, but we do know it won’t get rid of papal authority.
Learn more: Read Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?, by Herbert W. Armstrong.
