Child from the laboratory

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The government wants to support artificial insemination more than before. Health insurance companies should make it easier to provide financial aid for it. The University of Bochum warns that couples with an unfulfilled desire to have children are often not sufficiently informed about the negative aspects of artificial insemination. Catholic Church rejects artificial insemination as a way of human reproduction.

Calls for more support for couples who want to have children came from the CSU in particular on Wednesday. The possibility of making more services available is part of a comprehensive "care structure law" passed by the federal cabinet in Berlin. The measure would help "more families to fulfill their desire to have a child," the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs said. In addition, the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Kristina Schroder (CDU), is seeking further relief for people who want to have children.

Part of the Care Structure Act
The new law drafted by Federal Health Minister Daniel Bahr (FDP) provides for a bundle of measures aimed at improving medical care. This includes the expansion of services offered by health insurance companies, but also, for example, the desire to ensure the rural supply of physicians.

CSU social expert Joachim Unterlander also called for higher subsidies for fertility treatment from the federal government and health insurers. Around 1.5 million people in Germany who lived in a partnership were without children for medical reasons, it said. Every year, 800 people seek.000 couples seek medical advice, said the Bavarian member of the state parliament in Munich. But the current financing of such treatments is a great burden for couples with average incomes, he said.

Bochum University warns of inadequate care
According to a study, couples with an unfulfilled desire to have children are often not sufficiently informed about the negative aspects of artificial insemination. This is the conclusion of a study by the Ruhr University in Bochum, which was published on Wednesday.
Afterwards Reproduktionsmediziner clear patients clearly better about chances of success than about risks and loads. Multiple pregnancies or emotional stress are cited as examples.

Three quarters of those surveyed stated that the desire to have children pushed other life goals into the background. One in two expressed the feeling of losing control of the situation. Experts say patients often have limited ability to decide whether to end treatment with little chance of success. The physicians would not terminate the treatment for their part usually. The Bochum researchers had 1.500 patients and 230 reproductive physicians and 60 psychosocial counselors interviewed.

Catholic Church rejects artificial insemination
The Catholic Church rejects artificial insemination as a way of human reproduction. The Vatican had rejected as unethical all practices involving the destruction of embryos or decoupling procreation from the marital sex act. A couple's desire to have a child is not above the dignity of the life conceived, the faith authority stressed.

After blessing a homosexual couple, the Catholic priest Peter Kollas from Wetzlar has been recalled from the office of district dean. The responsible bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, had decided to take this step after Kollas had helped to celebrate a registered civil partnership in Wetzlar Cathedral last Friday, the diocese of Limburg announced on Wednesday. In an interview with this site, press spokesman Robert Eberle explains the process.

A blessing of registered civil partnerships by Catholic chaplains is not possible, the statement said. Otherwise, the false impression could arise that the church equates homosexual unions with marriage. He said that the Catholic Church was committed to seeking appropriate forms of pastoral care for homosexual persons. According to the teachings of the church, however, this can in no way lead to the legal recognition or blessing of homosexual unions. The diocese pointed out that the Wetzlar pastor had shown himself to be reasonable in a conversation with the bishop. The priest has never blessed registered partnerships before and will not do so in the future. According to the diocese, a provisional district dean for the Wetzlar district will be appointed in the next few days, who would enjoy the necessary confidence of the bishop. District deans act as representatives of the bishop in the districts. The gay couple blessed by Kollas had married in the registry office before the ceremony last Friday in Wetzlar Cathedral. Afterwards the festive party had moved into the cathedral, as diocesan spokesman Eberle explained. The ceremony in the cathedral would have been attended by about 150 people, including a Protestant clergyman.After the ceremony, there were "protests and irritations" from Catholics, but also Protestant Christians. In order to avert "further damage", the district dean was recalled. Kollas will keep his office as pastor. The 55-year-old had shown himself "insightful".

Criticism from homosexual associations The Alliance Greens and the Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) criticized the bishop's measure. The parliamentary director of the Green Party, Volker Beck, spoke of an "intellectual indictment". He said the decision was "a document of pharisaic bigotry and of ruthlessness toward homosexual Christians". LSVD spokesman Axel Hochrein accused the Catholic Church of trying by all means to suppress the lesbians and gays in their parishes. The federal chairman of the Lesbians and Gays in the Union (LSU), Reinhard Thole, declared that the church does not have the right to deny its blessing to two loving people. "We bless horses, cars, devotional objects. Then why shouldn't we also bless the love of two people," he said. The blessing, also of two homosexual lovers, is not a sacramental act and does not mean thereby also the equality with the sacrament of the marriage.

Pope em. Benedict XVI. © Michael Kappeler

The chapter on homosexual marriage was in the biography "Benedict XVI. – A life" the most exciting, says the KNA editor-in-chief Ludwig Ring-Eifel. In the detailed description of the pope's resignation even he discovered something new.

Interviewer: That Benedict XVI. is a headline generator, proves the new book. Specifically, it is about a very last interview with him, in which Benedict sharply condemns homosexual marriage and accuses society of an anti-Christian credo. Those who oppose this are socially excluded, says Benedict. How did you read this chapter in particular?

Ludwig Ring-Eifel (editor-in-chief of the Catholic News Agency / KNA): It is, of course, the most exciting chapter in the whole book, because it is also the newest one. It dates from the fall of 2018. That is, one can read how the pope saw it a year and a half ago, six years after his resignation. That's very exciting, because he still conveys the bitterness that he feels toward many current discussions.

On the other hand, it is also almost historical again, because the very latest developments, such as the Synodal Way or the discussions surrounding his latest pleas on celibacy, are not included in this book. In that respect, it's relatively topical, but still a bit historical.

Interviewer: Peter Seewald is considered a proven Benedict expert. He is the author of several books of interviews about Benedict. Does this new biography offer anything new? For example, about Benedict's spectacular resignation as pope?

Ring-Eifel: I must say, I have never found the matter of the resignation so well, precisely and excitingly told as in this book. It is described in detail when he made the decision, with whom he talks about it first, whom he does not inform, whom he informs only at the very end and how he then stages the whole thing. That is, I think, already a very strong chapter, and there I have then also learned a lot again.

Interviewer: Joseph Ratzinger deserted as a young man, as a flak helper. Moved from Tubingen to Regensburg as a young professor. Decades later then the withdrawal from the papal office. Peter Seewald recognizes in it a recurring pattern of action. Which is the?

Ring-Eifel: The pattern of action that Joseph Ratzinger, or rather Pope Benedict, then, when he rationally recognizes that he can no longer do anything in his position, moves on and gives up this position. That is something that runs through his entire life, which was reproached by some when he resigned as pope. Others have said that this was exactly the right thing to do, that he recognized that he was no longer able to exercise the office with his full mental and physical strength. So it was right that he resigned there seven years ago.

Interviewer: Benedict XVI. has been criticized again and again for the fact that he, as Papa emeritus, has always spoken out. Does Peter Seewald defend Benedict on this point?

Ring-Eifel: Yes, and he also makes it clear that Benedict did not say at his departure that he would now remain silent forever. But he said, I will serve the church in prayer and with all his spiritual strength. He never said, I will never speak out again. That was a bit misunderstood at the time. Seewald defends it and says he still has the right to speak out. Just as, for example, an emeritus bishop can speak out now and then with fundamental spiritual or theological statements.

Interviewer: It is not an exaggeration to call the new biography a ham: it is 1184 pages thick. Did you still enjoy reading it and can you recommend it?

Ring-Eifel: Well, I'm a bit of a burned child now, because I've already read quite a bit about this pope and also back then the autobiography of Ratzinger, when it was published 22 years ago. So the first, let's say, 500 to 600 pages were quite familiar to me. It became exciting only in the last chapters. But for anyone who wants to dive completely into this life and doesn't know Ratzinger's autobiography, the whole book is an asset.

The interview was conducted by Hilde Regeniter.

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