Double dealing by Cardinal. Letter on blessing for same-sex couples kept secret but leaked
Marx's letter on blessing ceremonies was an "internal document"
No publication in the Official Gazette planned
Spokesperson Confirms: Marx's letter was an internal recommendation; unlike in other dioceses, there will be no official publication of the blessing guidelines.
Blessing ceremonies for "couples in irregular situations" in the Catholic Church have an "official-unofficial" character by their very nature. According to the Roman declaration "Fiducia Supplicans," they should take place "spontaneously" and must under no circumstances become a "liturgical or semi-liturgical act."
With the guidelines "Blessing gives strength to love," the German bishops have attempted to shift the deliberately ambiguous matter more toward formalization.
This, in turn, prompted the responsible cardinal in the Vatican, Víctor Manuel Fernández, to publicly emphasize that Rome had not "approved" this approach; "any form of ritualization" was out of the question.
The German bishops, for their part, had …