On same-sex blessings, Belgium and Germany take different paths

Both the German synodal way and the Flemish bishops have called for same-sex blessings. But key differences could lead to contrasting Vatican responses.

Immediately before participants in Germany’s “synodal way” voted in favor of same-sex blessings last Friday, they received a pep talk from a bishop in a neighboring country.

Belgium’s Bishop John Bonny described how the country’s Flemish bishops came to publish a text allowing for a ritual blessing of same-sex couples last September.

When the bishop of An…