Several bishops at the September 8-11 assembly baulked at the proposal.

But Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who is currently a member of Pope Francis' circle of top advisors (Council of Cardinals) and past president of the German Bishops' Conference (2014-2020), actually defended the motion.

The cardinal, who turns 69 next week and will soon mark the 15th anniversary of his appointment to Bavaria's most important diocese, said it was all part of the paradigm shift that German Catholics are pushing for.

Marx, who was one of the main initiators of the Synodal Path, told La Croix's Delphine Nerbollier that a key aspect of the synodal process is "to ask questions, debate, and advance the discussion".

The text on sexual morality that was presented to the synodal assembly on September 8 failed to obtain the two-thirds majority required of the bishops present.

Among other things, it proposes that homosexual couples and remarried divorcees be afforded the "blessing of God expressly promised by the Church".

How do you explain that the required two-thirds majority was not reached?

Cardinal Reinhard Marx: This text is controversial and requires further discussion within the universal Church, but it is important and we cannot put the subject aside.

It consists of a paradigm change and perspective toward sexual morality and social ethics.

It is a process. We are going to talk about it again within the episcopal conference.

I would like to point out that this text was accepted by more than 80% of the members of the synodal assembly and by 62% of the bishops.

In your opinion, what role did the press release issued by the Holy See Press Office in July play in the rejection of this text?

That's a question for each bishop to answer. I think that each one of them already had his position prior to its publication.

Some expressed themselves, others less so. During this synodal assembly, some felt a little more pressure to express themselves.

The point is that we need to be more open with each other and justify our positions. We must not only represent an opinion, but defend it.

I don't think (the Vatican) statement played a role because it didn't bring anything new to the table.

None of us wants to replace the pope, to override canon law or to rewrite the Church's dogma. What we want is to ask questions, debate, and advance the discussion. We are part of the universal Church.

We have the mission to bring to it all the elements that seem important to us.

Is it difficult for the bishops to face so many theologians and lay people in this synodal process?

In Germany we have a long tradition of having lay men and women and professors of theology, especially in the synodal committees of the dioceses.

So most bishops are used to having lay people contradict them.

But of course, not everyone likes this. Some bishops have not yet integrated the change of perspective that synodality requires. This too is a process.

How can the German Synodal Path contribute to the World Synod?

I have the impression that some in Rome and elsewhere are watching the German synodal path with some apprehension.

For example, we have received letters from bishops in Poland, the United States and the Nordic Bishops' Conference.

It is therefore important that we present texts that are theologically very well argued and worked out.

In this fourth session of the synodal journey, we adopted texts on the possibility of creating a synodal council in Germany and on the place of women in the Church, with the support of two-thirds of the bishops.

These are absolutely priority themes for the universal Church.

These texts will certainly soon be translated into several languages and may have an influence on the discussion elsewhere in the world.

• Delphine Nerbollier writes occasionally for La-Croix International.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

The Church needs spiritual renewal, not just structural, he wrote as the Germany's Catholics prepare to embark on a synodal process.

"We are all aware that we are living not only in an age of change but also of epochal change that raises new and old questions which call for a justified and necessary debate," he wrote in a letter published by the Vatican last Saturday.

"You would have a good ecclesial body that is well organized and even 'modernised' but without soul and evangelical newness; we would live a 'gaseous' Christianity without evangelical bite."

Trying to eliminate tension just by "being in order and in harmony" would "numb and domesticate the heart of our people and diminish and even silence the vital and evangelical strength the Spirit wants to give us," he wrote.

In a study released in September last year, the German bishops identified three themes for the syndoal process to examine: sexual abuse by the clergy and religious; issues such as the lack of vocations and the non-acceptance of Catholic teaching on sexuality; and the lifestyle of priests.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops' conference, has pledged to create "formats for open debates" and to "bind [the German church] to proceedings that facilitate a responsible participation of women and men from our dioceses".

Noting the synodal path is a process that must be guided by the Holy Spirit with patience, the Pope warned that it does not involve a "search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called."

He also noted that true transformation cannot be made as a "reaction to external data or demands".

The Church "seeks to live and make the Gospel transparent and breaks with the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the church in which everything proceeds normally but in reality, faith wears out and degenerates into pettiness," Francis wrote.

"True transformation responds to and calls for demands that are born of our being believers and of the church's own evangelising dynamic."

In his view, it calls for "pastoral conversion," with a central aim of evangelisation. In addition, ensuring the Spirit is central to the process will shape the way debates are conducted.

"The synodal vision does not eliminate contradictions or confusion," he said.

"Evangelisation lived in this way is not a tactic of repositioning the Church in today's world" or "an attempt to recover habits and practices that make sense in other cultural contexts.

"It is true, there are hard times, times of the cross, but nothing can destroy the supernatural joy, which adapts, transforms and always remains," he said.

The Church's primary concern must be to share this joy with others, he said, especially those "who are lying on the doorstep of our churches, in the streets, in prisons and hospitals, squares and cities".

With the rise of xenophobia, indifference and individualism, the pope added, the Church must connect with those who suffer and "awaken in our communities, especially in young people, the passion for his kingdom."

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• La Croix
• Crux Now
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LifeSite

Marx is the president of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Marx says church leaders in the field of pastoral care work and pastoral care should consider the situation of the individual.

This means they must "try harder to accompany them in their circumstances of life".

Gay people are included in this, so priests and pastoral workers must be encouraged to accompany people according to their individual situuations.

There are no general solutions, he says.

Instead, priests should be allowed to bless gay couples on a case-by-case basis.

Marx says the decision should be made by "the pastor on the ground, and the individual under pastoral care".

"It's about pastoral care for individual cases, and that applies in other areas as well, which we can not regulate, where we have no sets of rules."

While he stopped short of fully endorsing blessings for same-sex couples, his positive comments made it clear he was open to approving such benedictions in private ceremonies.

"The issue is how the church can do justice to the challenges that new living conditions and new insights bring," Marx says.

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, who is the vice-president of the German Catholic bishops' conference, also asked for deeper discussion on church blessings for homosexual partnerships.

He says it is unhelpful to remain silent about such taboo subjects concerning the "political reality" of same-sex marriage.

"We must therefore ask ourselves how we should encounter and respond to those who enter into such partnerships and remain committed to the Church," Bode says.

"We must ask ourselves how we should accompany them pastorally and liturgically and how we can meet their needs."

• Religion News Service
• Catholic Herald
• La Croix
• Image: Christian Today