LISBON (LifeSiteNews) – German Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck has posed for a picture with an LGBT “progress” Pride flag in a church in Lisbon during World Youth Day.
The photo was originally posted by the Instagram account of a youth group from the Parish of St. Mary’s Assumption and shared in an Instagram story by the account of the Diocese of Essen.
Overbeck, the Bishop of Essen, is seen holding an LGBT “progress flag” with a group of young Catholics inside a church. The caption on the photo reads “Today we celebrated Holy Mass with Bishop Overbeck.”
The “Progress Pride flag” was designed by a gender-confused activist in 2018 and is meant to include the “transgender community” and “racial minorities.”
A German politician from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Maximilian Krah, shared the scandalous photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, and blasted Overbeck for his “anti-Christian” display.
“The German ‘Catholic’ Church with Bishop Overbeck at the World Youth Day in Lisbon,” he wrote. “They are openly anti-Christian.”
Overbeck is known for his heterodoxy, which includes his pro-LGBT and anti-family positions. In an interview in December 2022, Overbeck said that the Church must “widen its understanding of the family” to include every form “where people live with children.”
The Bishop of Essen has also authorized laywomen to administer the sacrament of baptism in his diocese, allegedly due to a “lack of priests.”
READ: German bishop authorizes 17 women to confer baptisms due to ‘lack of priests’
Overbeck is an ardent proponent of the heretical German Synodal Way that, among other heterodox proposals contradicting perennial Church teaching, has repeatedly called for changing doctrine on women’s ordinations and homosexual acts.
READ: German Synodal Way approves text calling homosexual acts ‘not sinful’ and ‘not intrinsically evil’
LifeSiteNews has reached out to the Diocese of Essen to ask for comment from Bishop Overbeck but has yet not received a response.