Germany Updates: On-the-Ground Blessings; the Vatican Curia and Denials of Disobedience

The ongoing debacle over the German Bishops’ Conference’s (DBK) April pastoral guidelines for same-sex blessings has raised its pitch in recent weeks. Bonding’s 2.0 has covered the contents of the guidelines, their reception, and their impact on the German episcopate’s relationship with Rome. Read on for the more current developments. 

Angelika Böhm

One church community innovates model to revive rural parish with dedicated ‘blessings church’

A parish church in a small German village has forged ahead with the disputted pastoral recommendations contained in the DBK’s handout, reported Katholisch.de. St. Isidore’s parish in the village of Eggartskirch is one of the smallest in the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, but remains a popular location for weddings and baptisms due to its idyllic location. 

A pastoral assistant named Angelika Böhm, along with the parish’s pastoral council, conceived the idea of transforming St. Isidore’s into a ‘church of blessing’, positioning the parish as a destination in hopes that with increased activity and participation it might escape the diocese’s consolidation of parishes. Katholisch.de outlinedthe new ministerial  arrangement :

“Pastoral services continue to be offered there, and once a month a priest celebrates an early morning Mass with the congregation, which is regularly ‘fully attended,’ Böhm is pleased to report.  Otherwise, this is ‘our church for passing on blessings,’ says the church employee, who, together with a team of volunteers, is responsible for the Church of Blessing.”

DBK representatives again meet with Roman curia 

German bishops met again with curial officials in November , said the DBK and Holy See in a joint press release. The latest meeting was the fourth one  to “continue the dialogue agreed upon” between the parties at the German bishops’ ad limina visit in 2022. 

Notably this arrangement predates this year’s blessings debate and is aimed more generally at Germany’s reformist Synodal Way, most especially the proposed institution of a permanent synodal body in the conference with voting and decision-making powers. According to the statement the dialogue was “once again characterized by a sincere, open, and constructive atmosphere,” with “Various points regarding the future statute of a synodal body of the Church in Germany” being discussed, including its “nature, composition, and responsibilities.”

The participation in these discussions of some of the highest ranking Vatican prelates indicate the importance of these discussions.  Included in the meetings were Cardinal ​​Victor Fernándezˆ, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine  of the Faith; Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops; and Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect for the  Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Bishop refutes narrow definitions of Catholic identity

One German bishop recently contended with characterizations of the Church in Germany as “un-Catholic.” Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, preached from his Cathedral’s pulpit on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, using the occasion to meditate on Catholic identity, reported Katholische.de. The bishop said that “I constantly read claims about myself and other bishops in Germany that we are no longer Catholic. I can assure you that this is nonsense.”

Being Catholic does not mean”throwing the truths of faith and moral doctrine at others like a rag, but rather trying to understand other people” the bishop continued. “We do not stand for an abstract truth, but for a faith that must be evident and reflected in everyday life.”  

—Jeromiah Taylor, New Ways Ministry, December 17, 2025