The archbishop of Munich and Freising offered the Mass on March 13 at St. Paul parish church, near Munich’s Theresienwiese.
Newsroom (14/03/2022 9:11 PM Gaudium Press) Speaking at the Mass, the cardinal said: “I desire an inclusive Church. A Church that includes all who want to walk the way of Jesus.”
He added that a synodal Church means being open, learning, and always breaking out anew in faith, in the search for the “possibilities of God,” as well as “in the question of what we have to say about sexuality and what we have to say about people’s relationships.”
The 68-year-old prelate, who is a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers, also said: “The kingdom of God is to discover that God is Love — in all its dimensions.” This included the sexual dimension but was not limited to it, he added.
“All human relationships must be marked by the primacy of Love. Then they can be accepted by God,” he said.
Cardinal Marx, who is also president of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, criticized what he called discrimination “from Christians against the homosexual community,” saying he was “shocked that this is ongoing.”
Everyone had a right to their own views, the German prelate added, “but the recognition and the primacy of Love I cannot put at issue as a bishop.”
He called for a “dynamic of openness” that should characterize the “Synodal Way” of the Catholic Church in Germany, saying that this was what Pope Francis meant when he emphasized the value of going forward to “discover what the Spirit has to say to us today.”
After the Mass, a “non-public reception with representatives of the queer community and Cardinal Marx” was held.
The archdiocese noted that the “men’s pastoral care service of the archdiocese offers dedicated weekends for gay, bi and trans men, and there are other programs on offer in the area of the department of family and adult pastoral care such as retreats for LGBTI.”
The archdiocese quoted a project leader as saying: “Rainbow ministry sees itself as a service to the reconciliation of the Church with the LGBTI community. It works to resolve theologically those traditions and Church structures that in the past have led or still lead to the discrimination and devaluation of LGBTI persons, in order to overcome them.”
The Munich archdiocese’s goal, it said, was for “LGBTI people to experience appreciation throughout the parishes of the entire archdiocese” and find programs “about their life situation, in which they feel accepted and taken seriously as people and members of the Church.”
A number of German prelates have called publicly for changes in the Church’s stance on homosexuality. There have also been similar appeals in neighboring Austria.
(Via CNS)