26 priests challenge Cardinal Marx over same-sex ‘blessings’ guidelines

MUNICH (LifeSiteNews) — A group of 26 Catholic priests in Germany is challenging the promotion of same-sex “blessings,” warning that the practice conflicts with the Church’s universal teaching on marriage and sexual morality.

According to an article published in German newspaper Die Tagespost on July 23, a group of 26 priests from the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has formally questioned Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s decision to promote national German guidelines allowing “blessings” for couples in “irregular” relationships, including same-sex couples. The letter was sent on May 12.

In the letter, the priests ask whether they should obey Marx’s directives or remain faithful to “the general doctrine and moral teaching of the universal Church.” If the cardinal’s answers do not resolve their concerns, the group of clergymen say they are prepared to seek clarification from the Holy See.

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The priests’ central question asks: “How do you explain this obvious contradiction? Or does Fiducia supplicans no longer apply in our archdiocese?” According to Pope Francis’ 2023 declaration Fiducia supplicans, “blessings” may be spontaneous and brief for people in homosexual relationships, while purportedly excluding any rite that could resemble a marriage celebration.

According to Die Tagespost, Marx replied by proposing that the guidelines be implemented in the archdiocese for one year as a trial period. He also stated that the German document is not a canonically binding norm and said he would invite priests to discuss its implementation after the experimental period concluded.

In their letter, the priests also object to guidance suggesting that a priest unwilling to perform such “blessings” should refer the requesting couple to another priest or to the dean. They argue that such referrals would constitute morally unacceptable cooperation in an action they believe conflicts with the Church’s teaching.

The priests further support their position by referring to recent remarks made by Pope Leo XIV during an in-flight press conference following his apostolic journey to Africa. According to their interpretation, the Pope stated that the Holy See “does not agree with the formalized blessing of couples,” whether they are same-sex couples or couples in “irregular” situations, beyond what is permitted by Fiducia supplicans.

On that occasion, Leo XIV downplayed matters of sexual morality, stating: “There are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”

The disputed guidelines, entitled Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft (“Blessing Gives Strength to Love”), were published in April 2025 by the German Bishops’ Conference, together with the Central Committee of German Catholics. They were presented as a response to a resolution of Germany’s Synodal Way calling for blessing ceremonies for couples to be made available throughout the country’s parishes.

German dioceses including Limburg, Osnabrück, and Aachen have already incorporated the document into their official diocesan protocols. Other dioceses – including Cologne, Augsburg, Eichstätt, Passau, and Regensburg – have declined to do so, maintaining that the guidelines exceed what Fiducia supplicans allows.

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The controversy intensified further after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) published, in May 2026, a letter it had originally sent to the German bishops in November 2024 raising objections to the draft version of the guidelines.

However, Stefan Diefenbach, co‑author of the German guide for same‑sex “blessings,” claimed that the text was prepared in consultation with Vatican officials, contradicting DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández’s repeated assertions that no agreement or approval had been given.

Diefenbach said the Vatican’s criticism, expressed in the 2024 letter later published in 2026, led to a complete revision of the draft, and that the German document attempted to reconcile the Synodal Way’s broader demands with the restrictions of Fiducia supplicans, even though it ultimately proposes a more structured and liturgical-like approach than the spontaneous “blessings” provided for under Francis.