The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on May 4 published a
2024 letter criticizing a German bishops’ conference proposal for a
ritual of blessing for couples in irregular unions, saying it
contradicts Fiducia supplicans. The
move follows the approval by several German bishops of rituals and
manuals for blessings of couples in irregular unions — developments
criticized by Pope Leo XIV during an in-flight press conference
returning from his April trip to Africa.
The dicastery released
the letter, signed by its prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and
dated Oct. 24, 2024, addressed to Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier.
The letter addressed a handbook sent to Rome as part of the manual
“Blessings for couples who love one another,” which was slated for a
vote by the German bishops’ conference later that year.
The letter quotes paragraph 11 of Fiducia supplicans,
which says that “the Church does not have the power to confer its
liturgical blessing when that would somehow offer a form of moral
legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an
extra-marital sexual practice.”
Quoting Fiducia supplicans
again, the letter adds that “with such blessings ‘nothing is intended
to be legitimized, but only to open one’s life to God’ (no. 40), nor to
‘sanction… anything’ (no. 34), but only to ask for God’s help ‘to live
better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the
Gospel may be lived with greater fidelity’ (no. 40).”
The
letter also criticizes the German bishops’ handbook because it refers to
the blessing of “‘a union’ and of an ‘official regulation’ by pastors
of couples who love one another outside of marriage, thereby also
becoming the object of a true and proper ‘acclamation,’ a gesture that
is normally foreseen in the matrimonial rite.”
“In this sense, one in fact seems to aim at legitimizing the status of such couples, in a sense contrary to what is affirmed by Fiducia supplicans,” the DDF letter adds.
The letter then explains that Fiducia supplicans
excludes any type of liturgy or blessings that could give the
impression of a sacramental blessing “that could create confusion” and
adds that Fiducia supplicans makes clear that it
should be avoided that these blessings “‘become a liturgical or
semi-liturgical act, similar to a sacrament’ (no. 36). ‘For this reason,
one must neither promote nor provide for a ritual for the blessings of
couples in an irregular situation’ (no. 38).”
It adds that
while the handbook speaks of “spontaneity and freedom” in these
blessings, “a fixed formulary is then offered for their realization,
contradicting what was previously affirmed.”
“In particular, in
the final part (“Form”), after having said that ‘the manner in which the
blessing is carried out, the place, the aesthetics of the whole,
including music and singing, must bear witness to the appreciation of
the persons who ask for the blessing,’ a sort of liturgy or para-liturgy
is prescribed with regard to the blessing of same-sex couples,” the
letter adds.
Fernández’s
decision to publish the letter comes a week after several prominent
German church officials defended the handbook, despite Pope Leo’s
criticism aboard the papal plane returning from his African trip in
April.
In response, Bishop
Georg Bätzing, who oversaw the guidelines’ introduction in April 2025
when serving as chairman of the German bishops’ conference, insisted
that they posed no threat to Church unity.
Bätzing, who approved the guidelines for use in his Limburg diocese in July 2025, said
last month that “Even though there are differing views on this within
the universal Church, I believe this practice in the Diocese of Limburg
is carried out within responsible limits. It serves the people and, in
my view, does not jeopardize the unity of the Church.”
The guidelines
were issued by the bishops’ conference in conjunction with the lay
Central Committee of German Catholics, known by its German initials ZdK.
ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp told German media there was no reason to withdraw the guidelines following Pope Leo’s remarks.
She
said the document was aimed at encouraging the provision of blessing
ceremonies “for couples who do not wish to enter into a sacramental
church marriage or for whom such a marriage is not an option.”
“No more and no less. There is no possibility of confusing it with the sacrament of marriage,” she said.
On
April 21, Pope Leo had said in a press conference that “The Holy See
has made it clear that we do not agree with the formal blessing of
couples, in this case, same-sex couples… or of couples in irregular
situations, beyond what Pope Francis has specifically permitted by
saying that all people should receive the blessing,” the pontiff said
during an April 23 press conference aboard the papal plane returning
from his 11-day trip to Africa.
Leo was responding to a question
about plans announced by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, to formalize blessings
for same-sex and other irregular couples in the Archdiocese of Munich
and Freising, while requiring clerics unwilling to perform them to refer
those requesting a blessing to another priest or pastoral worker.
Leo
explained that “the Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree
with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual
couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what
was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all
people receive blessings.”
“When a priest gives the blessing at
the end of Mass, when the pope gives the blessing at the end of a great
celebration like the one we had today, there are blessings for all
people,” he said.
“Francis’s infamous, famous, well-known,
expression, ‘tutti, tutti, tutti,’ expresses the Church’s conviction
that everyone is welcomed, everyone is invited, everyone is invited to
follow Jesus, and everyone is invited to seek conversion in their own
lives,” he added.
The pope concluded his reply by saying that “to
go beyond this today, I believe, could cause more disunity than unity,
and that we should seek to build our unity on Jesus Christ and on what
Jesus Christ teaches.”
German newspaper Die Tagepost reported
April 20 that Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich had instructed priests
and pastoral workers in the archdiocese to use a handout called
“Blessing Gives Strength to Love” as the basis of pastoral care to LGBT
people and people in irregular unions.
Priests who refuse to carry
out blessings are obliged to refer couples to other priests or pastoral
workers, according to the instruction.
The letter also says that
in June several archdiocesan offices will begin to offer training about
the specifics of the blessing “celebrations” for all priests and
pastoral workers.
In October 2025, Cardinal Fernández told The Pillar
that “the DDF didn’t approve anything [of the irregular unions’
guidelines], and wrote a letter some time ago reminding [the German
bishops] that [Fiducia supplicans] excluded any form of ritualization,
just as the pope has said.”
Fernández’ statement to The Pillar
came after then-German bishops’ conference president Bishop Georg
Bätzing said in September that the Vatican had been consulted on the
development of controversial guidelines issued in April, days after the
death of Pope Francis.
But according to Fernandez, there
was little in the text’s development which could be described as
consultation, and the dicastery’s intervention was critical of the
German bishops’ efforts.
“The DDF sent a letter to the
liturgical commission of the German bishops’ [conference] indicating
that the DDF cannot approve any form of ritualization of these
blessings, because any form of ritualization is expressly excluded in
FS,” the cardinal told The Pillar.
While
the German plans for ritualized blessings of irregular unions have come
under fire from the Vatican since they were first proposed, the Belgian bishops have approved a similar handbook without much public criticism from the Vatican.
The bishops of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, said that the three-page document,
entitled “Being pastorally close to homosexuals: For a welcoming Church
that excludes no one,” aims to “structurally anchor [the Church’s]
pastoral commitment to homosexual persons and couples.”
The
Flemish bishops’ text said that homosexual couples who choose to live
“in lasting and faithful union with a partner” deserve “appreciation and
support.”
The Flemish bishops’ document, which repeatedly referred to Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia,
concluded with a “Prayer for love and fidelity” — which has been widely
received as being a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex couples.
In
a preamble to the prayer, the bishops wrote: “During pastoral meetings,
the request is often made for a moment of prayer to ask God that He may
bless and perpetuate this commitment of love and fidelity. What content
and form that prayer can concretely take are best discussed by those
involved with a pastoral leader. Such a moment of prayer can take place
in all simplicity. Also, the difference should remain clear from what
the Church understands by a sacramental marriage.”
After an
opening prayer and Scripture reading, the bishops suggested that the two
people involved should “express before God how they are committed to
one another.”
This would then be followed by the “prayer of the
community,” in which those present ask “that God’s grace may work in
them to care for each other and for the wider community in which they
live.”
The prayer would conclude with intercessions, an Our Father, a final prayer, and a blessing.
