Two Catholic Bishops Condemn Disrespect for the Pride Flag

Two recent incidents in Germany involving the Pride flag have elicited support for the symbol from two of the nation’s Catholic bishops, Katholische.de reported 

Bishop George Bätzing

In the first incident, Julie Klöckner, the president of the Bundestag (the lower house of Germany’s parliament) decided that the Pride flag would not fly over the Reichstag building earllier this year on Christopher Street Day, Germany’s Pride holiday. In a recent interview with Stern, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg disagreed with Klöckner’s decision, and he expressed support for the flag’s message. 

“I think it’s a shame that she rejected it this year,” said the bishop, who is also a chairman of the German bishops’ conference. 

“It would have been a good sign,” continued the bishop in the magazine interview “I say this consciously as a Catholic bishop.”

Bätzing has previously advocated for the revision of the catechism, telling the newspaper Bunte in 2022 that:

 “Homosexuality is not a sin. We said in the Synodal Path that we want to change that. Other parts of the Catechism have also been changed, for example, regarding the death penalty.”

The second incident was a physical altercation which  broke out over the display of a Pride flag at the St. Michael’s Parish Festival in Essen-Dellwig. The local chapter of the Catholic Youth Community (KjG) reported, via Instagram, a “violent attack on us as a youth organization, in response to the raising of the rainbow flag at our parish festival.” Both the group and the parish’s pastor, Fr. Benedikt Ogrodowczyk, condemned the attack.

They were joined in the condemnation by

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck

, of the Diocese of Essen, who also expressed solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community:

“Such a thing contradicts our Christian view of humanity and must have no place in our church, which is supposed to stand for tolerance, respect, and diversity.”

The bishop added that the Pride flag is supposed to symbolize God’s love for all people “without distinction, without preconditions, and without conditions.” He also told the youth  impacted by the altercation: “I assure the KjG of my solidarity and stand firmly by their side.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, commented on the bishops’ responses, saying:

“Many Catholic leaders often mention that the church teaches respect for LGBTQ+ people, who, like all people, are born with inherent human dignity.  Few leaders, however, ever follow through by speaking out against public incidents where the dignity of LGBTQ+ people is disrespected, which is what these incidents invalidating the Pride flag represented. We applaud the courage and forthrightness of Bishop Bätzing and Bishop Overbeck who put into practice a church teaching many Catholics ignore.”

For previous LGBTQ-affirming statements and decisions by these two bishops, click on their names: Bishop Georg Bätzing and Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck.

—Jeromiah Taylor, New Ways Ministry, September 18, 2025