Rome Has Spoken. The German Bishops Don't Care

The Vatican just published a letter, written in November 2024, in which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith formally rejected a German bishops' proposal to introduce ritualized blessings for same-sex couples and other irregular unions.

"The Church does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when this, in any way, might offer a form of moral legitimation to a union that purports to be a marriage or to an extramarital sexual practice."

The letter was signed by Cardinal Fernández, and it was more direct than we're used to seeing from the Vatican. What the German bishops were proposing crossed the line from pastoral flexibility into doctrinal legitimization. The DDF/Vatican caught it, and shot it down.

Here's the part that surprises me, but probably shouldn't: the German bishops went ahead anyway.

In October 2024, the German bishops sent Rome a vademecum — a practical reference handbook for priests — outlining how to perform blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples and couples in irregular unions. They were presenting it as a local application of Fiducia Supplicans, the 2023 Vatican declaration that had cautiously opened the door to blessings for irregular couples under specific conditions.
(continues below)

Rome responded in November 2024 with a formal rejection. The vademecum, Cardinal Fernández wrote, crossed the line — what the Germans were proposing wasn't a pastoral application of Fiducia Supplicans, it was a ritualized legitimization of unions the Church cannot sanction. Rather than comply, the German bishops revised the vademecum and brought it to a vote.

Then in April 2025 — days after Pope Francis died — they approved it under the title "Blessing Strengthens Love." Rome's response was unambiguous: the 2024 letter applied to the revised and approved vademecum as well. Nice try, German Bishops!

The Germans had made changes to the original vademecum, but those changes did not bring it into compliance, and Rome said so explicitly. Bishop Bätzing even claimed publicly that the Vatican had been consulted on its development. Cardinal Fernández contradicted that directly.

Germany didn't just approve the vademecum and leave it on a shelf. Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising instructed priests and pastoral workers in his archdiocese to actively use it, and required any priest unwilling to perform the blessings to refer couples to another priest who would. It went a little further than that—Archdiocesan offices began scheduling training for clergy on how to carry out the ceremonies. The vademecum wasn't a statement of intent. It was being implemented.

Is this pastoral disagreement? I'd say it's closer to a regional church deciding that Rome's authority applies to everyone except them when it's inconvenient.

It's funny how Rome speaks and some Catholics decide whether or not they want to comply. Real funny when that happens. 🤔

Watch Germany. Not because it's a uniquely German problem — but because it's a preview. The strategy is always the same: introduce the language, normalize the practice, and wait out the opposition.

Share your thoughts in the comments below. Is Germany on track for a hard schism, and make official the defiance they've put on display for years?

Follow the Catholic firebrand, TJ Haines, everywhere on socials

Afterthoughts

For contributing members of Firebranded.fm

Acts 15 is directly relevant to what is happening in Germany right now. The similarities are striking