A leader of the influential Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) has chastised Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne for ordering a priest not to bless same-sex unions.
Birgit Mock, the vice-president of the ZdK, said that the cardinal’s stand was “beyond incomprehensible.” She cited a statement approved by the German Synodal Path, saying that “all people are equal before God and human dignity includes gender identity and sexual orientation.”
Mock’s own stand is significant because the ZdK had worked in partnership with the German bishops’ conference to organize the Synodal Path, and sought to continue that partnership by joining the bishops in a national pastoral commission to guide policies for the Church in Germany. The Vatican has indicated disapproval of that plan—as well as disapproval of the decision by the Synodal Path to offer church blessings for same-sex unions.