Munster's Bishop Felix Genn has forbidden an ecclesiastical blessing for the mayor of Emmerich and his life partner. It does not go the diocese however around it to depreciate a same-sex partnership.
He has forbidden the Wesel priest Stefan Suhling to give the two men on Saturday in the context of a word service in the Catholic church in the district Bislich a "blessing for lovers", confirmed diocesan spokesman Stephan Kronenburg a report of the "Neue Ruhr Zeitung/Neue Rhein Zeitung" (NRZ).
No disparagement
"The diocese is not concerned with disparaging a same-sex partnership," Kronenburg said. But media reports have given the impression that a homosexual wedding is being celebrated in the church. There have been various critical calls in Munster, he said. He said the diocese wanted to emphasize that there is a difference between the sacrament of marriage and a same-sex partnership.
Mayor criticizes
The mayor of Emmerich, Peter Hinze (SPD), and his partner want to celebrate their partnership on Saturday and later turn it into an from 1. October possible "marriage for all" rewrite. The mayor expressed displeasure with the bishop's decision in the NRZ. "You can not get a sharper impression that we are second-class people," he told the newspaper. "Dogs, cats and motorcycles are blessed, but we are not worth it?"
Catholic bishops reject marriage ceremonies and blessings of same-sex partners. The highest lay body, the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), pleads for the blessing of homosexual couples.