What does Fiducia supplicans really say, and why are the German bishops betraying it? At the forefront is the lavishly progressive Card. Reinhard Marx.

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The pressure campaign has begun.

The Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has instructed his priests and pastoral workers to officially adopt the German guidelines that provide for blessings for irregular couples.

These directives are contained in the document “Blessing Strengthens Love“, which, however, openly contradicts the indications of the magisterial document “Fiducia supplicans”.

Indeed, Leo XIV immediately intervened: “The Holy See has clarified that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples” in irregular situations, “beyond what was specifically permitted by Pope Francis.”

 

The German Synod vs. Fiducia supplicans

The German document, which emerged from the Synod of local bishops, provides that ministers should bless all couples who love one another, including same-sex couples and divorced-and-remarried couples, inserting these celebrations into structured settings complete with sacred music, biblical readings, and a defined ceremonial format.

In fact, it seeks to accommodate all “couples requesting a blessing for their union” and “for their relationship.”

By contrast, Fiducia supplicans states that such blessings are intended only for irregular couples “who do not claim legitimization for their own status,” a gesture that “does not seek to sanction or legitimize anything,” but rather allows people to “experience the closeness of the Father” and invites them “to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived more faithfully.”

Although it specifies that such blessings must not be confused “with the liturgical celebration of the sacrament of marriage,” the German guidelines nonetheless guarantee an “overall aesthetic experience (including music and hymns)” intended to demonstrate “esteem for the persons requesting the blessing.”

To this end, ministers are instructed to select “appropriate biblical texts to be read and interpreted during the blessing,” concluding the gesture with “praise to God.”

This solemn structuring, however, is radically opposed to what is stated in the Vatican document, which repeatedly warns that the blessing “must not be incorporated into a liturgical rite,” must remain spontaneous and “non-ritualized” in order to avoid “becoming a liturgical or semi-liturgical act,” and therefore “one must neither promote nor provide a ritual for the blessings of couples in irregular situations.”

“Fiducia supplicans” goes into even greater detail when, “in order to avoid any form of confusion or scandal,” it requires that blessings for irregular couples “must never be performed in conjunction with civil union ceremonies, nor in connection with them. Not even with clothing, gestures, or words proper to a wedding.”

 

The clarification from the prefect

In the subsequent clarification provided by Prefect Cardinal Fernández, dated January 4, 2024, it was further specified that these are merely “brief and simple pastoral blessings (neither liturgical nor ritualized) for irregular couples (not for the unions themselves), without any liturgical form, which neither approve nor justify the situation in which these persons find themselves.”

Fernández further explains that such blessings are a “simple gesture of pastoral closeness” intended “to foster openness to God amid the most varied circumstances,” and not, on the contrary, “a consecration of the person or couple receiving it,” nor “a justification of all their actions,” much less “a ratification of the life they are living.”

For this reason, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith established very strict practical guidelines:

• Very brief blessings, lasting only a few seconds (10–15 seconds maximum)
• No Ritual and no official Book of Blessings;
• During the gesture, the Lord is asked to grant “peace, health, and other good things to the persons requesting it,” so that “they may live the Gospel of Christ in full fidelity and that the Holy Spirit may free these two persons from everything that does not correspond to His divine will and from everything requiring purification”;
• They must not be “an ‘approval’ or ratification of anything,” nor even an absolution, but rather “solely the response of a pastor to two persons asking for God’s help”;
• They must not take place “in a prominent place within the sacred building or in front of the altar, because this too would create confusion.”

Therefore, while the Church allows “spontaneous or pastoral” blessings for irregular couples, the German bishops are turning them into “liturgical or ritualized” blessings for irregular unions.

 

Where Fiducia supplicans came from

It is highly likely that the document “Fiducia supplicans” was created precisely to restrain the tendency of many dioceses, including those in Germany, to publicly and formally celebrate liturgical blessings for irregular couples.

The timing makes this clear.

In 2021, the Vatican attempted to intervene in order to limit the phenomenon, but the German response was one of protest, including the organization of public celebrations specifically intended for such blessings.

Then, in March 2023, participants in the German Synodal Way called for the official introduction of blessing ceremonies in all German parishes, even preparing an actual ritual model very similar to a wedding ceremony.

A few months later, in December 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published “Fiducia supplicans” in order to address the issue in an authoritative and binding manner.

As has been reconstructed, this position deeply unsettled the German Bishops’ Conference, which abandoned publication of the guidelines requested by the Synodal Way, at least until April 23, 2025, two days after the death of Pope Francis.

Although the document bears the date April 4, when Bergoglio was already in very poor health, many considered it evident that the German bishops waited for a period of papal interregnum before publishing the text, which openly challenges the restrictions imposed by “Fiducia supplicans”.

 

Cardinal Marx and the 30 pieces of silver

Today Cardinal Marx, leader of the German progressive bloc, has called for the official implementation of the ritual model that emerged from the German Synod within his diocese.

The cardinal therefore intends to openly challenge Rome, while in his own country he is already heavily criticized for the lavish salary he receives monthly from the state as a public official.

While his Italian counterparts receive around €4,000 gross per month (and priests barely reach €1,200 monthly), Marx benefits from a monthly income of €14,000.

A great deal of money, though certainly worth less than 30 pieces of silver.