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Cardinal Reinhard Marx: Homosexuality is "no restriction" to becoming a priest
Photo: Sven Hoppe / picture alliance / dpa / dpa pool
For Cardinal Reinhard Marx, homosexuality does not conflict with holding a priestly office.
Nobody is forced to make their sexual orientation public, said the 68-year-old.
"But if he does, then that's to respect and then that's no limitation of his way to become a priest," said Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
»That is my position and you have to stand up for it«.
According to Marx, consecration as a bishop can be carried out regardless of sexual orientation.
"Whether someone is homosexually oriented or heterosexually oriented, I assume that they lead a chaste life."
Cardinal Marx acknowledged that pastoral employees can only be difficult to live out their equal partnerships - but promised change.
“We have to go our own way, and we do so in the archdiocese as well.” If the church recognizes same-sex partnerships among believers as a binding relationship, this must “somehow apply to everyone” – including church employees.
A few days ago, 125 employees of the Catholic Church came out.
In the campaign, homosexual church workers also reported: For fear of being fired, they lived far away from their jobs, hid their relationship - and even married secretly when they were retired.
The Catholic Church is still held with the topic of homosexuality.
Last year, the Vatican banned the blessing of same-sex relationships.
Thereafter, 200 theology professors protested against the prohibition.
In a letter to all parishes in the diocese of Essen, Ruhr Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck advocated a "serious and deeply appreciative reassessment of homosexuality" by the Catholic Church.
saw/dpa
