May 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called it an act of “blasphemy” when clergy in his country recently blessed homosexual couples in outright defiance of Church teaching.
“This staging of pseudo-blessings of homosexually active male or female couples is, theologically speaking, blasphemy—a cynical contradiction of God's holiness,” Müller wrote in a May 24 piece published on First Things.
Earlier this month, Catholic clergy in Germany openly defied the Vatican’s recent teaching against same-sex blessings by offering blessing services across the country in over 100 locations as part of a campaign titled “Love wins, blessing service for lovers.” The campaign was launched in response to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asserting in a March 15 declaration that the Church cannot bless same-sex relationships since God “does not and cannot bless sin.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that blasphemy, which “consists in uttering against God — inwardly or outwardly — words of hatred, reproach, or defiance,” is a “grave sin.” The Code of Canon law states that those who “in a public show” blaspheme must be “punished with a just penalty.”
Müller explained in his article why marriage between a man and woman can receive God’s blessing while a relationship based on same-sex activity cannot.
“The legitimate and sacred place for the bodily union of man and woman is the natural or sacramental marriage of husband and wife. Any freely chosen sexual activity outside of marriage is a grave violation of God’s holy will (Heb. 13:4). The sin against chastity is still greater if the body of a person of the same sex is instrumentalized to stimulate sexual desire,” he wrote.
“In the Bible, God’s blessing is mentioned for the first time when man is created in his image and likeness. The institution of marriage shares in the truth that our creation as ‘male and female’ (Gen. 1:27) expresses the essential goodness of God. When a man and a woman freely assent and in marriage become ‘one flesh’ (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5), the promise God made from the beginning applies to them: ‘God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’’ (Gen. 1:28),” he added later in his piece.
In the weeks since the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that the Catholic Church cannot bless homosexual relationships, calling such blessings "illicit," hundreds of German priests have defied the ban on "homosexual blessings."
Indeed, more than 500 German priests have vowed to violate the Vatican's directive which states that it is "not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex."
The fundamental reason for this, of course, is that God, "does not and cannot bless sin."
Very unfortunately, however, many illicit "blessings" have already occurred, as more than 100 locations in Germany (including 50 Catholic parishes) participated in a "Love wins, blessing service for lovers" organized by an openly homosexual German priest.
BUT, there is hope!
Many faithful German Catholics are prayerfully protesting at these renegade parishes, reciting the Holy Rosary and saying other prayers as loving acts of reparation for the illicit "blessings."
Please SIGN and PLEDGE TO PRAY in solidarity with these faithful German Catholics, to STOP these sacrileges. You may say any prayer of your choice!
Of course, these so-called illicit "blessings" are only symptomatic of the head-long plunge of the German Catholic Church into what has been called "massive apostasy," and undeclared "schism."
Observers have suggested that this pernicious deviation from the Church's teaching on marriage and on sexual morality by the German Catholic clergy was set in motion by the so-called German Synodal Path - a Church convention run by the German bishops which dissents from Catholic teaching on celibacy, clerical authority, the ban on female ordination, contraception, cohabitation, homosexuality, and gender theory.
And, many attempts have been made in the last year to appeal to Church authorities, both within and outside Germany, to stop the Synodal Path's manoeuvring against the constant teaching of the Magisterium in faith and morals.
Indeed, in the last ten days, a group of faithful Catholic clergy - including a Cardinal, bishops and priests - have approached the Pope asking him to intervene to stop the Catholic Church in Germany from crossing into declared schism.
Calling on the Pontiff to take action, the faithful group of clergy appeal thus:
"Concerned about this sad situation [the drift of the German Church into schism], we Pastors of the Catholic Church and faithful laity committed to the defense of the Truth of the Faith, ask the Holy Father to take the necessary measures to put an end to these drifts of the German Synodal Path and, if necessary, to apply the appropriate canonical sanctions against the promoters of this tremendous deviation from both doctrine and communion with the Keys of Peter."
Please PLEDGE TO PRAY for the Catholic Church in Germany, that the illicit "homosexual blessings" would cease, and that the Church, there, would swiftly reunite itself to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and Her perennial and immutable teachings on faith and morals.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Vatican rejects blessings for homosexual couples' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-vatican-rejects-blessings-for-homosexual-couples
'Priest: Blessing homosexual couples in Germany is a 'sacrilegious … diabolical act'' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-blessing-homosexual-couples-in-germany-is-a-sacrilegiousdiabolical-act
'Over 500 German priests vow to defy Church’s ban on same-sex couples’ blessings' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/over-500-german-priests-vow-to-defy-churchs-ban-on-same-sex-couples
'German bishop involved in Amazon Synod will not suspend priests who bless homosexual couples' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/german-bishop-involved-in-amazon-synod-will-not-suspend-priests-who-bless-homosexual-couples
'Cardinal, bishops, priests ask Pope to stop schism of Catholic Church in Germany' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-bishops-priests-ask-pope-to-stop-schism-of-catholic-church-in-germany
'Bishop Schneider: How Catholics in Germany can remain faithful in face of schism' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-schneider-how-catholics-in-germany-can-remain-faithful-in-face-of-schism
**Photo Credit: Sachin Jose / Twitter
The cardinal said that the nuptial blessing received by a newly married couple highlights how the conjugal act between a husband and wife is “not only good in itself and free from sin, but is also a meritorious procreative act that is counted toward eternal life.”
“The nuptial blessing is unlike other blessings and consecrations. It cannot be separated from its specific connection to the sacrament of marriage and applied to unmarried partnerships or, worse, misused to justify sinful unions,” he wrote.
Müller went on to say that what is currently happening in Germany with the bishops’ “Synodal Path,” along with acts of defiance such as blessing homosexual couples, amounts to a “heretical denial” of the Catholic faith.
“The scandal in Germany is thus not about individuals and their consciences. Nor does it signal concern for their temporal and eternal salvation. Instead what we are witnessing is the heretical denial of the Catholic faith in the sacrament of marriage and the denial of the anthropological truth that the difference between men and women expresses God’s will in creation.”
He criticized what he called the “German spirit” which he said is “prone to flights of idealism” for being the driving force behind German Catholics’ movement toward a new paganism that is disguised as Christianity.
“What is new in this theology that returns to paganism is its impertinent insistence on calling itself Catholic, as if one can dismiss the Word of God in Holy Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition as mere pious opinion and time-bound expressions of religious feelings and ideals that need to evolve and develop in accord with new experiences, needs, and mentalities,” he wrote.
The cardinal concluded by calling on Rome to intervene before the Catholic church in Germany disintegrates.
“For the sake of the truth of the gospel and the unity of the Church, Rome must not watch in silence, hoping that things won’t turn out too badly, or that the Germans can be pacified with tactical finesse and small concessions. We need a clear statement of principle with practical consequences. This is necessary so that after five hundred years of division, the remnant of the Catholic Church in Germany does not disintegrate, with devastating consequences for the universal Church,” he wrote.
Müller is also joined by Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, and other bishops and priests, in calling on Pope Francis to intervene to stop the Catholic church in Germany from going into “schism.”