Marx calls for apology to gays

The Church must apologise for its past failure to oppose homosexual prosecution when it is discussing same-sex marriage, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx has made clear, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

While firmly continuing to uphold the Church’s teaching on marriage, namely that it is a lifelong bond between a man and a woman which is open to children, it is at the same time imperative “to recall that the Church has not exactly been a trailblazer” on gay rights. “We must express our regret that we did nothing to oppose homosexuals from being prosecuted,” Cardinal Marx told the Augsburger Allgemeine. The law criminalising homosexuality was not rescinded in Germany until 1994, he recalled, adding, “and we as a Church did not concern ourselves with it.”

He did not see the Bundestag vote in favour of same-sex marriage on 30 June as a defeat for the Church, he said. The concept of marriage and the family was not only a church matter. In a secular society, the state must make laws that were valid for everyone. Christian influence did not only show itself in laws but the way Christians lived the Gospel values in society, the cardinal observed.

Asked if he had been surprised by the Pope’s dismissal of Cardinal Gerhard Müller as CDF prefect, he replied: “No one could help noticing that certain statements or opinions Cardinal Müller made or expressed in recent years were difficult to reconcile with the Pope’s opinions”.