“Blessing Gives Strength to Love”: German Bishops’ Conference Releases Authorized Pastoral Guidelines on Imparting Blessings to Homosexual Couples

It’s as if they were just waiting for the perfect moment—the moment when the last obstacle to their plan would be removed, and no one could stop them. The German original may be found here. -PAK

 

“Blessing Gives Strength to Love”:
Blessings for couples who love each other
Handout for pastors

Resolution of the Whole Conference [of German Bishops], April 4, 2025 [released April 23]

A Vatican II Moment -- Ash Wednesday in the Novus Ordo: The New Sacred Music

 It isn't from this year (the lack of the ubiquitous masks dates it), but we thank the traditional Catholic German organist who compiled this unbelievable display of modern "Sacred Music" on a past Ash Wednesday in the presence of Cardinal Woelki, in Cologne, Germany.

It has to be seen (and heard) to be believed:

German Liberalism is a Cancer in the Church

Cancer: a terrible disease, with which we are, as many of you, terribly familiar. Therefore, we do not make use of it as a metaphor unadvisedly.

Since the age of the Council, and before it, Liberal Catholicism of the German extraction has been a life-threatening cancer metastasizing throughout Holy Mother Church. A Pole and a good German tried to reverse the disease, but the deep pockets of the German Bishops who funded the "St. Gallen Mafia" got what they paid for in 2013: increasing confusion throughout the Church.

Their first Trojan Horse was the non-issue of Communion for lifelong adulterers, rammed through in two Synods, followed by the outrageous liberal paragraphs and footnotes in "Amoris Laetitia".

Now, their new Horse also involves the Most Blessed Sacrament: that the Prince of Darkness is their instigator cannot be doubted because they only attack the holiest thing in the Church, the Sacred Eucharist.

A Rare Moment of Clarity from Cardinal Lehmann

Cardinal Lehmann

H.E. Karl Cardinal Lehmann, who went to his eternal reward on March 11, was one of the most influential German prelates of the past few decades. A former assistant to Karl Rahner, Lehmann’s interpretation of the “spirit” of Vatican II was largely implemented in Germany. As president of the German Bishops’ Conference from 1987–2008, Lehmann accelerated the pace of the development of the German Church towards ever greater conformity to the spirit of the age. From a traditionalist point of view, his attempts at reconciling the German Church to the modern world were an unequivocal disaster, and a betrayal of his sacred duty as a successor of the Apostles. Remarkably, Lehmann’s last will and testament, written in 2009, but not published till after his death last month, can almost be read as admitting as much. Lehmann writes:

Benedict XVI: "Francis = Capsizing Boat" (Updated: Full Translation)

From the 2-page written homage (German original) by Pope Emeritus Benedict read today in Cologne for the Requiem of Cardinal Meisner:

A word of greeting from Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, on the occasion of the funeral Mass of Cardinal Joachim Meisner, on 15th July 2017

In this hour, when the Church of Cologne and believers further afield take their leave of Cardinal Joachim Meissner, I am with them in my heart and thoughts and am pleased to accede to Cardinal Woelki’s wish and address a word of reflection to them.

When I heard last Wednesday by telephone of the death of Cardinal Meissner, I could not believe it at first. We had spoken to each other the previous day. From the way he spoke he was grateful to be on holiday now, after he had taken part the Sunday before (25th June) in the beatification of Bishop Teofilius Maturlionis in Vilnius. His love for the neighbouring Churches in the East, which had suffered persecution under Communism, as well as gratitude for endurance in suffering during that time left a lifelong mark on him. So it was certainly no accident that the last visit of his life was made to a confessor of the faith.

What struck me particularly in the last conversations with the Cardinal, now gone home, was the natural cheerfulness, the inner peace and the assurance he had found. We know that it was hard for him, the passionate shepherd and pastor of souls, to leave his office, and this precisely at a time when the Church had a pressing need for shepherds who would oppose the dictatorship of the zeitgeist, fully resolved to act and think from a faith standpoint. Yet I have been all the more impressed that in this last period of his life he learned to let go, and live increasingly from the conviction that the Lord does not leave his Church, even if at times the ship is almost filled to the point of shipwreck.

German Parliament Votes to Legalize Gay Marriage — Weak Response of German Catholics

The lower house of the German Parliament has voted to legalize homosexual pseudogamy (aka gay marriage). The German bishops voiced mild disapproval of the law, but without of course ever giving the reason why all people of good will should oppose such laws: the gravely immoral character of homosexual acts, which such laws are meant to normalize. 

De Mattei - The Sack of Rome: a merciful chastisement

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

December 3, 2015

The Church is experiencing an era of doctrinal and moral disorientation. The schism has exploded in Germany, although the Pope seems to be unaware of the significance of the drama. A group of cardinals and bishops advocate the need for an agreement with the heretics. As always occurs in the darkest hours of history, events follow one after the other with extreme rapidity.

On Sunday May 5, 1527, an army descending from Lombardy reached the Janiculum. The Emperor, Charles V, enraged at Pope Clement VII’s political alliance with his adversary, the King of France, Francis I, had moved an army against the capital of Christendom.  That evening the sun set for the last time on the dazzling beauties of Renaissance Rome. About 20,000 men, Italians, Spaniards and Germans, among whom were the Landsknecht mercenaries, of the Lutheran faith, were preparing to launch an attack  on the Eternal City. Their commander had given them license to sack the city. All night long the warning bell of Campidoglio rang out calling the Romans to arms, but it was already too late to improvise an effective defense. At dawn on the 6th of May, favoured by a thick fog, the Landsknechts  launched an assault on the walls, between St. Onofrio and Santo Spirito. 

UPDATE: Priest denied traditional Latin Requiem Mass: Maybe his Church tax was delinquent?

After a thunderous response from our readers, including priests (and most likely bishops), the ultra-leftist Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, Germany, has reversed his decision and will now allow Fr. Andre Hahn of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) to say a traditional Latin Requiem Mass for Father Adolf Mohr tomorrow.

The intrepid Catholic journalist Barbara Wenz (read her here) asked the Diocese of Trier on Twitter to confirm he banned the Latin Requiem Mass for the late Fr. Mohr. The diocese tweeted this back:

"Requiem and funeral will be celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite."

Traditional Catholics have a voice and it's more powerful than we often believe.

------------------------------------------------------------
Original post 11/11/15 12:47p.m. GMT:

We joke in the headline, but it's really not humorous. In fact, it's a grave scandal to rob anyone, especially a priest, of his last wishes and the sacraments owed to him. Please weigh in and spread the word: 

From Gloria.TV:

Please Protest: German Bishop Prohibits an Old Latin Requiem for a Dead Priest

Bishop Ackermann is blessed in 2012 by a protestant Priestess

Last Friday, Father Adolf Mohr (86) of Rheinböllen, Germany, died from cancer. After his retirement he returned to the Old Latin Rite of his youth. In his will he expressed the wish to be buried in this rite. His parish priest guaranteed him in writ that his wish would be respected.

Doctrinal "devolution" to the bishops' conferences? Francis already endorsed it in 2013. UPDATE: Francis' most important speech so far on "decentralization" -- and his intentions for the Synod

[UPDATE 10/19/2015 2:30 AM GMT]: For the record: Edward Pentin has posted a complete "working translation" of Francis' watershed speech on his desire to see a more decentralized and "Synodal" Church that "begin(s) with the people and their everyday problems" and for which the "conversion of the papacy" is central.

We will not dedicate more time to commenting on the theme of decentralization. It is enough to say that so long as the good bishops and cardinals who have been attacking the proposals for "decentralization" shy away from naming the true patron of the proposal -- the Pope himself -- they are only avoiding the problem, instead of addressing it. 

Equally important as the "decentralization" aspect is Francis' assertion that it is the "flock" that is "discern(ing) the new ways that the Lord is revealing to the Church", which he uses to justify the controversial "consultation" that took place in the run-up to the Synod. Remember that it was this process of consultation that the German and Swiss bishops (and powerful lay groups such as the German Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken) used to collect support for far-reaching reforms in the teachings of the Church on family life and sexual morality.

Socci: "At the End of the Synod, Francis may impose his will, Diktak-style -- but Bergoglism is foundering everywhere"

[The Argentinian War Machine with the German Engine is Stuck in the Mud]

Antonio Socci

‘Libero’

October 11, 2015

Deutschland—Church of the Rich or Church of the Poor?

News reports have been showing us for some time now that the rich German church is the main mover and shaker behind the synodal armageddon, past and future.

As we know, there are two kinds of poverty: material and spiritual. The African church, in many ways materially poor (certainly as compared with Germany), is spiritually rich, with Catholics striving, often in terribly difficult circumstances, to live what Pope John Paul II called as “the Gospel of life.”

The German church, in contrast, appears to be spiritually impoverished in proportion to its immense material assets, once more establishing a law as old as divine revelation: “One is as it were rich, when he hath nothing: and another is as it were poor, when he hath great riches” (Proverbs 13:7). “Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked” (Psalm 36:16). “And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” (Luke 8:14). The earthly riches of the German church will be the millstone that drags it down to Gehenna—all but the remnant that, despising these vain pomps, cleaves to the untarnished Word of God.

In his magnificent little work On the Perfection of the Spiritual Life, St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us about the dangers of material wealth and the urgent need to abandon them for the sake of Christ:

Hamburg Archbishop: "People Live Together in Manifold Ways!" / Plus: The German Strategy for the Synod - and another "Liberal" Shadow Synod, now in September

Katholisch.de [Official Website of the German Bishops' Conference]

August 1, 2005

On Marriage and the Family : “We Have to See the Manifold Ways of How People Live Together” - Archbishop Heße Calls For More Realism in the Moral Teaching on Sexuality

The Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, has called upon his Church to have more realism with regard to the moral teaching on sexuality. “We have to look upon the manifold ways and forms of living in which people live, as they now exist,” said the 48-year old to the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger  on Saturday. He, “of course,” also sees “same-sex couples entering the Metropolitan Cathedral of Hamburg, and nobody asking them to leave.”

Synod Time! From the German Bishops' News Website: Indissolubility? That's just an ideal. Let's stop talking about "Guilt", please!

Katholisch.de [Official News Website of the German Bishops' Conference]

Bonn, July 29, 2015

Tradition or Opening?

A Report on How Bishop Franz-Josef Bode Considers the Themes likely to be Presented and Discussed at the [forthcoming October 2015] Synod on the Family in Rome:

The Bishop of Osnabrück [Germany], Franz-Josef Bode, sees that, in view of the Synod of Bishops as has been planned for this October 2015, the Catholic Church is facing important fundamental decisions. “We do not only face isolated questions concerning marriage and the family, but it is also about the fundamental decision as to how we want to react to the developments in Europe and the world,” said Bode himself to the journal Herder Korrespondenz, which is published in Freiburg [Germany].

Church Labor Law in Germany and Same Sex "Unions" - Three Voices in the German Desert: "We Will Not Accept Self-Secularization Here"

For the background on the iniquitous change (enacted by the German Bishops' Conference itself, without having been prompted by any outside force), see our previous post.

***

Bishop Stefan Oster of  Passau, Facebook Entry, 22 July, 2015

The Church's Labor Law – a Few Thoughts From Passau About This Matter

[A Map of the Dioceses of Germany: Passau, Regensburg and Eichstätt are neighboring
dioceses in Bavaria, in the Southeast (lower right), next to Cardinal Marx's Munich-Freising.]

The bishops of Passau, Regensburg, and Eichstätt [Bishops Stefan Oster, Rudolf Vorderholzer, and Gregor Hanke] are in the process of checking whether and, if yes, when they will implement the revised Labor Law of the Church. Because of this, they are now variously called by public commentators as being either backward or as being those who put on the brakes; or as those who intend to dupe the other bishops; or as representatives of the “pure teaching”; or as those who, because of this, are acting in a way that does not relate any more to the life and the Faith of the people – which consequently helps to increase the numbers of people who leave the Church, etc., etc. Thus, I would like to add a few thoughts – from my own viewpoint, as well as from the viewpoint of Passau – for the sake of differentiation.

Record Number of Church Defections in Germany. Cardinal Marx: "This is the Joy of Francis"

DENIAL: The state of the Church in Germany

As it has been recalled on Twitter, almost twice as many defections from the Church in Germany under Francis than under Benedict XVI... Well, well...

***

German Bishops' Conference: Numbers of Catholics Leaving the Church Are at Its Highest On Record

Daniel Deckers

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

July 17, 2015

218.000 persons left the Church in the year 2014, 22 percent more than in the year before – and, besides that, more than ever before. The reason for it, according to the Archbishop of Freiburg, is very profane and secular.

In the year 2015, more Catholics than ever have left the Church. As the Catholic Bishops' Conference reported on Friday, the number of people having left the Church has risen 22 percent within the last year to now 218,000. The number of baptisms has remained nearly the same, however, when compared to the previous year: 165,000. The number of new members whom the Church has received either by entrance or by a re-entrance, has further sunken. Taken together, this number – for the first time – is less than 10,000.

The Bishops' Conference did not say anything about the deeper causes for such developments. Its president, Archbishop Marx of Munich, was quoted as saying that these new statistics show “that Church is multi-faceted and has still had a missionary force, even though the high number of exits from the Church makes us painfully aware that we do not reach people with our message.” Archbishop Burger, of Freiburg, spoke of the “irritations caused by the new way of gathering the Church taxes by referring to the capital incomes – which was erroneously then interpreted by many as an 'increase of taxes.'” Originally, the Church tax [Kirchensteuer] was only gathered together with the other taxes, when the tax payer formally requested it. Now, since 1 January 2015, it happens automatically. When, at the end of 2014, the banks started to inform their members about this new procedure, the number of exits considerably increased in the Catholic Church as well as in the Protestant churches.

[…]

[Concerning the numbers of the regular participants at the Sunday Mass: it is now 10.8 percent.] In 1990, the year of the re-unification, the number of the regular participants at Sunday Masses was 21.9 percent.

Also with regard to the priests and religious, the signs of implosion in the Church become visible only in a longer-term view. For example, the number of active priests [not yet retired] went down within the last fifteen years from nearly 13,000 to around 9,000. At the same time, fewer and fewer young men now prepare themselves for the priesthood in the seminaries. The number of female religious has been nearly cut into half since 1999 and is now down to approximately 17,500. Concerning the male religious, there is to be found a reduction of nearly 30 percent.

***

Press Release of the German Bishops' Conference, 17 July 2015

Church Statistics

The Neo-Modernist Theology of Eberhard Schockenhoff

The Rev. Fr. Eberhard Schockenhoff

According to Edward Pentin, “the ‘mastermind’ behind much of the challenge to settled Church teachings among the German episcopate,” and “the leading adviser of the German bishops in the run-up to the synod” is Fr. Eberhard  Schockenhoff, professor of moral theology at the University of Freiburg, about whom we have had occasion to report in the past. It is a sign of the state of theology in the German speaking world that Fr. Schockenhoff is considered a theological “moderate.” He is careful to quote the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to support his positions, and always makes a show of respect for magisterial teaching. This is probably the reason why the German bishops have chosen him, and not one of his more extreme colleagues to help them make the case for changing the unchangeable teachings of the Church on sexual morality.

"Shadow Synod" participant is new Archbishop of Berlin

The Holy See today announced the appointment of Heiner Koch, 61 years old, Bishop of Dresden-Meiβen, as the new Archbishop of Berlin. His appointment comes after his election by the Berlin Cathedral Chapter, which is required under the complex system of concordats that governs Church-State relations in Germany. Nevertheless the final ratification of such elections still lies with the Pope. Berlin is a small diocese by German standards, but due to its immense social and political importance for all of Europe, six of its seven Ordinaries from 1935 to 2014 have been raised to the Cardinalate while in office. 

The Archbishop-elect heads the German hierarchy's Commission for Marriage and Family and is one of the three German delegates to the 2015 Synod along with Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Munich and Franz-Josef Bode, Bishop of Osnabruck. Despite some conservative-sounding statements made by the Archbishop-elect during the Benedict years (such as a 2012 statement on the futility of discussing matters already closed by the Magisterium) he is now without question aligned with the "progressivist" camp. All three German delegates to the 2015 Synod have publicly come out in favor of the Kasper "hypothesis" and all three attended the now-infamous "Shadow Synod" held on May 25 at the Gregorianum in Rome. 

Archbishop-elect Koch succeeds Rainer Cardinal Woelki, 58, who was Archbishop of Berlin from 2011 until transferred by Pope Francis to Germany's largest and richest Archdiocese, Cologne, in 2014. Cardinal Woelki was largely assumed to be a "conservative" during the Benedict XVI years despite some evidence to the contrary, but has shown his progressivist leanings more openly during the current Pontificate; he is reportedly in favor of Kasper's proposal and more recently was identified as the "leading figure" in the German hierarchy's decision to change its labor laws, opening the way for the almost unlimited employment by the Church of persons who enter into same-sex civil "unions" (known as "registered life partnerships" in German law), and all but ending the possibility of  their dismissal. 

The Archdiocese of Berlin is in deep crisis, forcing then-Archbishop Cardinal Woelki to announce in January 2013 the reduction of the Archdiocese's 105 parishes to just 30 by 2020. (Only six years before, the late Cardinal Sterzinsky of Berlin had halved the number of parishes in the Archdiocese.) The new appointment does not give much hope for even a modest turnaround. 

Despite impressive numbers of faithful and clergy on paper (407,000 Catholics, 421 priests and 668 religious) it would seem from the need to drastically cut down parishes that the great majority of priests on Berlin's clergy roll are very old and are either unable to serve any longer, or will be unable to continue serving for long.

So, what did the "Progressive" Bishops discuss in their secret Pre-Synod meeting?

The meeting was first made public by Le Figaro (see here), and took place on Monday in the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, run by the Jesuits -- it was later characterized as a routine meeting.

What was exactly discussed there? The German Bishops' Conference made public the anodyne communiqué at the end of this post, but today's Italian daily Il Foglio has more revealing snippets of the confidential conference, obsessed with same-sex caresses and marital infidelity:

Rarity: A German Bishop who defends the Doctrine of Christ against the German Catholic Majority | - Plus: 5 Bishops defend him

"I will not destroy Sodom for the sake of ten righteous men."

[Statement of Bishop Stefan Oster, Diocese of Passau, Germany, on his Facebook concerning the recent statement of the largest German Catholic lay organization ZdK, May 12, 2015:]

Here are some thoughts as an orientation concerning a problematic declaration – in my eyes – of the Central Committee of German Catholics [ZdK] made public this past weekend:

[...]

If we were to consider the Church's Faith as it has been lived and shared until now and specifically concerning these topics [of marriage, sexuality and the family], then the approval of the requests made by the ZdK would mean a dramatic change of much that has been heretofore held to be valid concerning marriage and human sexuality. The Church believes – because of the Revelation that was given to her – that lived sexual practice has its legitimate place only within a marriage between a man and a woman, both of whom are open to the procreation of life and both of whom have made a bond that is to last until the death of one of the spouses. […] this bond is called a Sacrament, and it is strengthened with the help of God's own explicit promise to be the third part in this bond vowed between the two; He is the One Who binds this relationship, Who sanctifies it, makes it indissoluble and Who is also, again and again, the Source of Salvation for them.

SYNOD BATTLES: Blackmail, Veiled Schism Threats, the Kasperization of the German Church, and the Destruction of Marriage - Document and Analysis

1. DOCUMENT

Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken (Central Committee of the German Catholics)

Saturday, May 9, 2015

To Build Bridges between Teaching and the Reality of Life – Family and Church in the World of Today

Plenary Assembly on May 8 and 9, 2015 in Würzburg [Germany]

Declaration of the Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken (Central Committee of the German Catholics) in preparation for the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican [October] 2015

 The Central Committee of the German Catholics (ZdK) [Rorate note: the oldest, main and most influential group of German Catholics, founded under a different name in 1848 and responsible for the famous Katholikentage, Catholic Days] welcomes the call of Pope Francis to all the faithful to make a statement about the situation of the family in the Church and in the world of today. The world-wide reactions to this call will have to be put together during the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the fall of 2015. The ZdK is aware of the universal Church's understanding of the context for the discussion of the topic and pays special attention to its own regional considerations.

[…]

With the following four central messages, the ZdK would like to make a contribution to the debate, in light of the preparation of the consultations for the XIV General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops; it would thus like to invite a discussion about its following statements and to seek allies for the upcoming challenges.

1)      We regard the sacramental marriage as the model for a life-long bond as a promise for a successful life with the help of God. We confess this to be the model of life and we encourage couples to make such a marital promise and to found a family. At the same time, we respect other forms of cohabitation in which important values are realized: reliable responsibility for one another; fidelity in that relationship; and a commitment to walk together the path [sic].

2)      As a church in the world, the ZdK works in a special way for a strengthening and for a promotion of marriage and the family in our society and in the state. By family, we mean also the different non-marital forms of reliably lived partnerships and of generational responsibility which make a large contribution to the societal solidarity and which ought to be treated justly.

3)      The Church's teaching has to be further developed with the help of a dialogue with the faithful, and with an attentiveness to their respective life realities. As a church which is attentive to men, their sorrows and hopes, we are called to engage with confidence the given society of today with all its manifold, socially accepted forms of living, and to become ourselves bridge-builders between practice and teaching.

4)      In our church [in Germany], we support a strong pastoral care for marriage and the family, which needs, locally, a convincing personal offer [of specific and special care], also in changing pastoral structures.

In detail, this means that:

[…]

In other forms of communal living, as well, there are to be found values which signify a marriage as a covenant between God and men: an unbreakable [sic] “yes” to the other person, the constant readiness to reconcile, as well as the perspective upon a fruitful relationship in exchanging the gifts of different persons.

These forms of living and family [also] have to be honored, even if they are not to be found in the form of the sacramental marriage. We think here of enduring partnerships [cohabitation], civil marriages, as well as civilly registered partnerships [i.e., homosexual unions].