(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German bishops’ conference (DBK), said that they will implement “blessings” of same-sex couples in Germany, regardless of what the Vatican says.
Asked in an interview with German TV station ZDF if Bätzing is sure that the Pope agrees with him about “blessings” of same-sex unions, the German bishop replied, “We will implement it here.”
“We have worked very intensively on this,” he continued. “We have worked in four forums with dozens of people from the Synodal Path, with experts, and have created solid texts in which the arguments that lead to our decisions are presented in great detail and we are happy to talk about it. But the practice will be changed.”
READ: Cdl. Müller: ‘German Synodal sect’ has replaced Catholic faith with LGBT ideology
On March 10, the same day that Bätzing made these remarks in the interview with ZDF, the members of the Synodal Way voted overwhelmingly in favor of a document containing “blessings” for same-sex couples, as well as for the divorced and “re-married,” in a move putting them in direct opposition to Catholic teaching.
The interviewer from ZDF pointed out that the Vatican has spoken out against “blessings” of homosexual couples and subsequently asked Bätzing, “Does this mean that you are now effectively defying the pope?”
Bätzing avoided directly answering the questions, instead, he said:
First of all, we have to say that the practice of blessing exists and we want to bring it to the surface, and that means that we bishops take a position on it and say: “It is good that we are doing this.” What is good in a relationship between two people in a partnership can also receive God’s blessing, that is only logical.
He added that “we have heard today from the Belgian Church that this has already been implemented there and that it has even been agreed upon with Rome.”
READ: Belgian bishop claims Pope Francis approves of blessing ceremony for homosexual couples
While Pope Francis has been ambiguous on the subject, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith did issue a document in 2021 confirming that the Catholic Church does not have the authority to bless same-sex unions.
The interviewer confronted Bätzing with criticism from the former secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who said that he is worried that the German Catholic Church is “saying goodbye” to union with the universal Catholic Church.
“Those who speak of division perhaps hope to get something out of it,” the head of the German bishops’ conference responded. “We do not speak of it, we do not want it and we will remain in unity with the large Catholic Church.”
German bishops to implement heretical practices immediately
Bätzing is not the only bishop who wants to put into practice the heretical resolutions by the Synodal Way right away. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of the Diocese of Osnabrück announced on March 14 that he will immediately implement the practices approved during the fifth Synodal Assembly last week. This includes official “blessings” of homosexual and divorced and civilly remarried couples, laypeople administering baptisms and giving sermons during Holy Mass, as well as “queer pastoral care” for “transsexual” individuals.
Bätzing has shown in the past that he is not willing to wait for approval from Rome, or even from the Synodal Way Forum, to implement his heterodox “pro-LGBT” agenda.
In May 2022, before the latest two Assemblies of the Synodal Way, he authorized heterodox binding guidelines in his Diocese of Limburg that force priests to accept and promote homosexuality, transgenderism, and “blessings” of same-sex couples. According to these guidelines, “there is diversity in sexual identity and orientation.”
The guidelines furthermore stated that “[t]he appreciative handling of these differences and diversity should be actively promoted in the parishes and institutions. The choice of lifestyle is to be respected as the result of an individual and personal decision. It is to be recognized when partners take responsibility for each other in mutual fidelity and care. Furthermore, we welcome it when couples wish to place their partnership under the blessing of God.”
READ: Cardinal Müller: Belgian bishops’ homosexual ‘blessings’ are ‘heresy and schism’