MUNICH, Germany (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the dissident German prelate and close adviser of Pope Francis, celebrated Mass on Sunday for the “Munich Queer Community” to mark the group’s 20th anniversary.
“I wish for an inclusive Church,” stated Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, in his March 13 homily at St. Paul’s church, near the Theresienwiese that is used for Munich’s Oktoberfest. Drawing from the Gospel passage of the sermon on the mount, Cardinal Marx stated that Christ “speaks in a special way against those who exclude.”
“He wants to invite everyone with the primacy of love,” added Marx, who is one of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers. Calling for “the togetherness of different groups,” the 68-year-old prelate declared that “the kingdom of God is to discover that God is love — in all its dimensions,” including the sexual dimension.
The Mass was specially arranged to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the “Queer Service Munich” and sung by members of the “Rainbow Choir.” Marx was personally invited to celebrate the Mass by the “Munich Queer Community.”
The Catholic Church has “many limits,” said Marx in his homily, referring to ecclesiastical traditions “that once had a meaning, but are now disturbing,” since they no longer reflect “what was actually intended by him [Christ].”
To counter these “disturbing” traditions, Marx highlighted the Synodal Way and the Synodal Church as the way forward, as only in this manner would Catholics be able to search for the “possibilities of God” and answer “the question of what we have to say about sexuality and what we have to say about people’s relationships.”
“I am shocked that this is not over,” Marx said in reference to what the Archdiocese described as being when “voices of rejection are also heard from Christians about the homosexual community.”
He called for the Church to “go deeper into the truth about human beings,” saying that a “dynamic of openness” was necessary.
How long until he says sodomy is virtuous? https://t.co/AbqCDrThcI
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) March 14, 2022
In announcing the Mass, the Archdiocese also promoted its “rainbow-friendly pastoral ministry,” which – founded in 2018 – seeks to promote “a fundamentally positive view of sexuality as a component of God’s good creation and a personalistic ethic of love and relationships.” Among the Archdiocesan activities to support LGBT ideology are weekends “for gay, bi and trans men” that explore the “special male friendship among gay, bi and trans men.”
“Rainbow ministry sees itself as a service to the reconciliation of the church with the LGBTI community,” said Ruth Huber, head of the Department of Generations and Ages, and the archdiocesan official responsible for the LGBT outreach. “It works theologically on traditions and church structures that in the past have led or still lead to discrimination and devaluation of LGBTI persons in order to overcome them.”
Huber stated that the Archdiocesan goal for the LGBT project was for LGBT-practicing individuals to “experience appreciation throughout the entire archdiocese in the parishes and parishes” and find offers “in which their life situation is a topic and in which they feel accepted and taken seriously as people and members of the church.”
After the Mass, Marx met privately with “representatives of the queer community.”
Cardinal Marx doubling down on LGBT support
In celebrating the anniversary Mass, Cardinal Marx is increasing his consistent, very vocal calls for a change in Church teaching against LGBT ideology. Speaking weeks ago just before a meeting as part of Germany’s ongoing Synodal Path, Marx declared that “it would be better for everyone to create the possibility of celibate and married priests.”
The dissident cardinal, whose resignation over mishandling of sex abuse cases was refused by Pope Francis last year, was subsequently supported by Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German Bishops’ Conference.
Some days prior, Marx had publicly rejected Church teaching on homosexuality, when he said that homosexuality was not a hindrance on becoming a priest. Should a man declare his “sexual inclination … then that is to be respected and then this is not a restriction on his ability of becoming a priest,” Marx stated. “That is my position and we have to stand up for it.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2357) teaches that homosexual acts are “of grave depravity,” are “intrinsically disordered … are contrary to the natural law,” and “do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.”
“Under no circumstances can they be approved,” states the Catechism.
The Vatican reiterated consistent doctrine in its March 2021 note firmly banning same-sex blessings. However, in Germany’s Synodal Way, an overwhelming majority of participants voted early February to approve documents calling for blessing of same-sex couples and the ordination of women.