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Rainbow flag in Cologne (archive image): "Paternalistic gesture of superiority"
Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa
More than 200 theology professors from the German-speaking area protest in a statement against the Vatican's ban on blessings for homosexual couples.
The statement by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was "shaped by a paternalistic gesture of superiority" and discriminated against homosexual people and their lifestyles, the statement said.
“We are resolutely distancing ourselves from this position.
On the other hand, we assume that the life and love of same-sex couples are worth no less before God than the life and love of any other couple. "
In many parishes, priests, deacons, and other pastors would offer blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.
"We expressly welcome these honoring practices," clarify the scientists.
The declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith lacks theological depth and argumentative stringency.
"If scientific findings are ignored and not received, as is the case in the document, the teaching office undermines its own authority," the experts say.
The statement, which was signed by 212 theology professors by Sunday, was drafted by a working group at the University of Münster and can still be signed.
Overbeck calls for a "reassessment of homosexuality"
Current signatories include the dogmatist Georg Essen from the Humboldt University in Berlin, the 92-year-old Peter Hünermann, Julia Knop and Gregor Maria Hoff, chairmen of the Working Group for Dogmatics and Fundamental Theology, and the liturgical scientist Benedikt Kranemann from Erfurt.
Other well-known representatives of their subject are the chairwoman of the Catholic Faculty Conference, Johanna Rahner from Freiburg, the Munich fundamental theologian Thomas Schärtl-Trendel, the Münster dogmatist Michael Seewald, the New Testament scholar Michael Theobald from Tübingen and the Münster church historian Hubert Wolf.
Several representatives of church universities have also signed, including Jesuits from St. Georgen and teachers from the Catholic universities in Eichstätt and Linz.
The Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made it clear last Monday that the Church was not authorized to bless homosexual couples.
Any form of blessing that recognizes a homosexual partnership is not permitted.
This has sparked a storm of protest in the Catholic Church in Germany.
Ruhr bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck, for example, spoke out in a letter to all parishes in the Essen diocese for a "serious and deeply appreciative reassessment of homosexuality" by the Catholic Church.
Overbeck reported, according to a message from the diocese, that he had received numerous letters from pastors who had communicated their open rejection of the position of the Vatican.
The declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith offended and hurt many people.
The attitude of the faithful should not be ignored by the Vatican.
The representation of the Catholic faithful in the diocese of Aachen called on Friday to disregard the ban issued by the Vatican.
"God loves and blesses all people," wrote the diocesan council in a statement.
"If people want to place their partnership, which is based on love and responsibility, under God's blessing, the church cannot refuse to give it."
The Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cologne also criticized the Vatican.
»Last year the church still blessed the bars around Cologne Cathedral, but says that the love of two same-sex people cannot be blessed.
This is not God's promise to people as we understand them, «wrote chairman Tim Kurzbach in a statement.
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