The German Catholic bishops have published a handout that offers guidance to pastors on blessings for couples in “irregular” situations such as same-sex relationships, urging clergy to use the blessings to “express appreciation” for individuals seeking the recognition from Catholic priests. 

The handout, “Blessings for Couples Who Love Each Other,” was distributed earlier this month by the joint conference of members of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

The guidance cites Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican document published in 2023 that was approved by Pope Francis. The German document allows for “blessings” of homosexual couples and other extramarital arrangements. It was first reported on by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. 

“Non-church married couples, divorced and remarried couples, and couples in all the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities are of course part of our society,” the bishops wrote, noting that “quite a few of these couples want a blessing for their relationship.”

“Such a request is an expression of gratitude for their love and an expression of the desire to shape this love from faith,” the document says, calling blessings “an act of the Church, which places itself at the service of divine-human encounter.” 

“The Church takes seriously the couple’s desire to place their future path in life under God’s blessing,” the handout claims. “It sees in the request for blessing the hope of a relationship with God that can sustain human life.”

“The art and manner of conducting the blessing, the location, the entire aesthetics, including music and singing, are intended to express the appreciation of the people who have asked for the blessing, their togetherness and their faith,” the guidance stipulates. 

When published in 2023, Fiducia Supplicans generated widespread international backlash from Church leaders around the world, though some bishops praised the guidance and vowed to allow the blessings in their bishoprics.

The document asserted that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations. The declaration emphasized that blessings may only be given “spontaneously” and not in the context of a formal liturgical rite.

Bishops in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere said they would not be permitting priests to perform such blessings. Some bishops in the U.S., meanwhile, said they would implement the guidelines in their dioceses. 

Pope Francis several times defended the document from criticism, arguing that blessings do not require “moral perfection” before they are given.

“The intent of the ‘pastoral and spontaneous blessings’ is to concretely show the closeness of the Lord and of the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask help to carry on — sometimes to begin — a journey of faith,” he said last year.