German Synodal Way approves text calling homosexual acts ‘not sinful’ and ‘not intrinsically evil’

FRANKFURT AM MAIN (LifeSiteNews) – At the fourth Assembly of the German Synodal Way, a large majority of the bishops and laity present voted to approve a text that demands the Church change her teaching on homosexuality. 

Entitled “Magisterial reassessment of Homosexuality,” the document includes the following statement: “Same-sex sexuality – also realized in sexual acts – is thus not a sin that separates from God, and it is not to be judged as intrinsically evil.” 

The fourth Assembly of the German Synodal Way was held from September 8-10, 2022, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The Synodal Assembly consists of the 56 German bishops, 69 representatives of the lay organization “Central Committee of German Catholics,” and several other members of clergy and laity. For a text to be approved, a majority of the members of the Assembly, as well as a two-thirds majority of the bishops, is needed. 

Forty of the 56 German bishops (71%) voted in favor of the text that proposes a change to Church teaching on homosexuality. The document is meant to be submitted to Pope Francis and into the worldwide synodal process. 

The text addressing homosexual acts is contrary to Catholic moral teaching and the natural law. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity (Cf. Genesis 19:1-29; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Timothy 1:10), tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona humana, 8). They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (CCC 2357.) 

 The document of the Synodal Way calls for a change of this and other related paragraphs in the Catechism, saying:  

In the course of this reassessment of homosexuality, among other things, the passages 2357-2359 and 2396 (homosexuality and chastity) of the Universal Catechism should be revised. Likewise, the corresponding passages in the Catechism Compendium (2005; no. 492) should be amended. In the Compendium, “homosexual acts” need to be removed from the list of “principal sins against chastity.”

The German text concludes that no one should be denied the sacraments, including the sacrament of ordination, because of their homosexual orientation.