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Ex-Benedictine monk Anselm Bilgri (r.) With husband Markus after the wedding on March 12th in Munich: "I feel really good"
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
SPIEGEL
: Mr. Bilgri, you were a Benedictine monk and the head of the Andechs Monastery in Bavaria.
In the meantime you have left the Catholic Church and have just married your partner in a civil ceremony.
Do you want to be blessed too?
Bilgri
: Absolutely, but only when the pandemic has been contained to such an extent that we can happily celebrate with friends and relatives without any distance.
I am now a member of the Old Catholic Church - and unlike the Roman Catholic Church, it does not hesitate to give us the blessing.
SPIEGEL
: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome has just confirmed the ban on blessings for homosexuals with an official note, thereby triggering fierce criticism in Germany.
Bilgri
: It really fit like a fist: I married a man on Friday and on Monday the announcement came from Rome that the blessings of same-sex partnerships are still forbidden.
That confirmed to me once again that leaving the church was the only right decision.
The Catholic Church is just hopelessly unrealistic.
SPIEGEL
: Does the decision make you angry?
Bilgri
: I've been beyond anger for a long time.
Every word of this decree shows contempt for homosexual people.
Yet it is precisely the same-sex lovers who turn to the church who ask for the blessing and are then offended.
Nobody has to accept that.
To person
Icon: enlarge Photo: Jürgen Müller
Anselm Bilgri, born in 1953, studied philosophy and theology in Munich, Rome and Passau and was ordained a priest by Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.
He was a Benedictine monk for 30 years and at times prior of the Andechs monastery in Upper Bavaria.
In 2004 he left the order and founded a center for corporate culture.
Since then he has worked as an author, coach and mediator.
At the end of 2020, Bilgri left the Roman Catholic Church, and in March 2021 he married his long-term partner.
SPIEGEL
: The tone of the letter from the Vatican is as usual paternalistic.
It is said that there is no discrimination.
Homosexuals should be treated with respect.
Some could even be blessed if they followed God's plan - not living out their sexual identity.
Bilgri
: In the church's self-image, that's only logical.
Catholic sexual morality is essentially a marriage morality.
Sex is only allowed in marriage between a man and a woman, where it is used for procreation.
Otherwise it will be considered a grave sin.
Of course, believers have not adhered to this for a long time.
SPIEGEL
: Those who do not practice their homosexuality are tolerated.
In this way, of all things, the church decouples the physical from the all-embracing love for a person.
As if same-sex love didn't exist in the head and heart, the dogma looks only at sexuality.
Bilgri:
And that is exactly what discrimination is.
In Munich, dogs and cats are blessed once a year in churches, as well as organs and rosaries.
But blessings are denied to people who love each other and say we want to stay together.
That's a scandal.
SPIEGEL
: In Germany around 1,000 believers have signed a Facebook petition against the Vatican letter, in Austria there is the "Call to Disobedience 2.0" with 350 clergymen who want to continue blessing homosexuals.
Are the Curia and the Catholic base irreversibly divided?
Bilgri
: The barrel is overflowing.
People no longer put up with everything that comes from Rome.
There is sporadic approval, but above all massive criticism of the Vatican letter.
In Germany, where movements like Maria 2.0 bundle the displeasure of the grassroots, the gap between dogma and reality is huge.
SPIEGEL
: Can the church base still convey that the Pope is benevolent and tolerant of homosexuals, but that the hardliners in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are still doing what they want?
Bilgri:
I am critical of the Pope.
I don't think he's a liberal reformer.
He has respect for the individual, but is tough on the matter.
Although he approaches people, he is also very modern and politically left-wing when it comes to social and climate issues.
But as far as the theological is concerned, it follows the motto: "Kill error, but love the erring".
Francis does not want to change anything in the teaching.
SPIEGEL
: It is not surprising that the Vatican is insisting on dogma.
Would you have expected otherwise?
Bilgri:
I would have expected the Vatican not to answer this question from church circles at all.
That would definitely have been wiser.
SPIEGEL
: Why?
Bilgri
: The church has never revised dogmas because it considers itself infallible.
It sat out unsuitable new scientific knowledge, hushed it up and suppressed a debate.
Therefore, it would have been more in line with the practice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith not to reply.
SPIEGEL
: Why did it turn out differently?
Bilgri
: I assume that conservative internal church opponents of the Pope called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in order to undermine Francis' authority and to force an answer in their favor.
They also wanted to weaken the position of the open-minded German bishops.
It was absolutely clear that the reaffirmation of the ban on blessings for homosexuals in Germany, Western Europe and the USA would lead to an outcry.
SPIEGEL
: Did the writing of Roman theology fall back into the time before the Second Vatican Council (1962 to 1965)?
Bilgri
: The attitude towards gays and lesbians in Rome has changed little since the 1960s and is essentially in line with the catechism published by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
Theologians observe adherence to the moral teaching of the 1950s.
SPIEGEL
: The Roman Catholic Church no longer plays a role in your life.
How are you doing with that?
Bilgri
: I feel really good.
I no longer have the feeling that I am living in sin, no one is telling me anything, this nonsensical letter from Rome passes me by.
But I am sorry for everyone who is still in the Catholic Church and suffering from it.
SPIEGEL
: What is your advice to liberal clergy in the current situation?
Bilgri
: Be brave and still bless.
I want to see the bishop reprimand such a pastor.
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