Cardinal Marx Allows Blessings for Same-Sex Couples in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

On April 21, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, officially allowed blessings for same-sex couples in his archdiocese. In a letter to priests and other pastoral workers, he described the guidelines “Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft” as the basis for their pastoral work. The move was reported by DIE ZEIT and evangelisch.de .

The document “Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft” was adopted in April 2025 by the Joint Conference of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics. As the German Bishops’ Conference said , the church should accompany not only same-sex couples but also divorced and remarried people, couples of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and those who do not want or cannot enter into a sacramental marriage in the Church. At the same time, such blessings are not meant to be confused with the sacrament of marriage.

The German bishops link this approach to the declaration Fiducia supplicans , approved by Pope Francis in December 2023. The Vatican then allowed blessings for couples in “irregular situations” and for same-sex couples, while separately stressing that this did not mean a liturgical rite or a ceremony resembling marriage.

In September 2025, Pope Leo XIV spoke out against solemn blessings for same-sex couples introduced in some European countries and said such forms “clearly violate” Fiducia supplicans, katholisch.de reported . Despite that, the German bishops did not withdraw their guidelines.

In the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, such blessings had already been tolerated in practice, and since December 1, 2024 the archdiocese has had 16 official contact persons for pastoral work with LGBT people, according to the archdiocesan website . Marx’s letter moves that practice from an informal arrangement into an officially recognised pastoral line.