VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union has expressed strong reservations regarding the ruling of the Court of Justice that obliges member states to recognize same-sex “unions” contracted in other EU countries.
On December 9, 2025, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued an official statement criticizing the recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, issued on November 25, in the case Wojewoda Mazowiecki (C-713/23). The ruling obliges member states to recognize same-sex “unions” legally performed in other EU states, by virtue of the right to free movement and residence of European citizens. According to the bishops, the decision exceeds the EU’s competence in family law matters and risks negatively affecting legal certainty and national legislative autonomy.
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“The ruling issued on 25 November 2025 appears to push jurisprudence beyond the boundaries of EU competences,” stated the COMECE Presidium in the declaration, emphasizing that “marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman in the legal systems of various EU member states, including, in some cases, by means of Constitutional provisions.”
The Court of Justice of the European Union had been asked to rule on the case of two Polish citizens, one of whom held dual German citizenship, who had entered into a civil union in Berlin in 2018. The couple requested the transcription of their so-called “marriage” in the Polish civil register, but the authorities refused because national law does not recognize same-sex “unions.”
The appeal reached the European judges, who ruled that such a refusal violates EU law, particularly provisions related to the free movement of citizens. While reiterating that member states retain competence over marriage law, the court stated that administrative recognition of such unions does not require the introduction of them into national law, but only the recognition of its effects to guarantee the exercise of European rights.
In its statement, COMECE expressed “concern” over the “impact upon questions that are at the core of national competences” and emphasized “the importance of a prudent and cautious approach and of avoiding undue influences on national legal systems.”
The bishops also recalled that Article 9 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU guarantees the right to marry “in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights,” and therefore the definition of marriage remains a matter for the member states.
The COMECE Presidium, which met on December 3, also observed that the decision tends “to apply provisions that should protect sensitive components of national legal systems in a way that impoverishes their meaning,” citing Article 9 of the European Charter as an example. The commission also expressed concerns about “an impact on legal certainty,” as member states “will not be able to foresee in a clear manner which parts of their family law will remain within their autonomy.”
The statement also highlights concern over “negative developments in other sensitive areas for cross-border family law,” particularly the risk that it is “paving the way to future similar legal approaches regarding surrogacy.” According to COMECE, the ruling produces a “convergence of matrimonial-law effects,” even in the absence of an EU mandate to harmonize family law, exerting implicit pressure on national legislators.
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Another point of reflection, according to the bishops, concerns “the disappointingly limited role attributed by the Court to the respect for Member States’ national identities and to their public policy,” as established in Article 4, paragraph 2, of the Treaty on European Union. In many countries, the note reads, “the definition of marriage forms part of their national identity.”
The Wojewoda Mazowiecki case originates from a series of disputes concerning the recognition of same-sex “unions” among EU member states. Already in 2018, the Court of Justice had ruled in the Coman case (C-673/16), establishing that a state cannot deny residence rights to the same-sex “spouse” of an EU citizen legally married in another European country. The decision of November 25 thus falls within this interpretative line, extending its effects and strengthening the obligation of legal recognition.
COMECE has been monitoring the evolution of European jurisprudence on family law for years. Its Legal Affairs Commission had already repeatedly emphasized the need to protect the legal and cultural diversity of the continent, preserving the principle of subsidiarity. In the December 9 statement, the Presidium finally stressed that such decisions “give rise to anti-European sentiments in Member States” and can “be easily instrumentalised,” at a historical moment in which the EU itself is particularly in crisis.