Pope Leo’s decide to steer German diocese proposes scrapping priestly celibacy

(LifeSiteNews) — A German bishop who backed the Synodal Manner’s push for gay “blessings” says he’s open to abolishing priestly celibacy, telling German broadcasters the Church should weigh what it “positive aspects and offers up.”

Bishop Christian Würtz, who was just lately appointed as bishop of Eichstätt by Pope Leo XIV, gave an interview to Bayerischer Rundfunk during which he talked about his perspective towards the “reforms” demanded by the heretical German Synodal Manner.

Würtz mentioned he’s in favor of an open debate on priestly celibacy, arguing that the Church ought to weigh the “prices and advantages.”

The 55-year-old Würtz was among the many 38 German bishops in 2023 who voted in favor of a doc endorsing “blessings” for gay “{couples}” in addition to for the divorced and “remarried.” Six months earlier, Würtz supported the German Synodal Manner’s heterodox “Theological Reassessment of Homosexuality” doc that referred to as gay acts “not sinful” and “not intrinsically evil,” opposite to the timeless educating of Scripture and the Church.

READ: Pope Leo appoints German bishop who endorsed gay ‘blessings,’ claimed sodomy ‘not sinful’

His predecessor as bishop of Eichstätt, Gregor Maria Hanke, was often called a conservative who rejected the unconventional proposals of the Synodal Manner and wished to stay devoted to the Church’s perennial educating. Nevertheless, Würtz mentioned that he didn’t need to make these variations into a degree of competition.

“It’s essential to not get misplaced in factional struggles, however to all the time search for what unites us and what’s central,” he acknowledged. “That’s additionally an essential side of synodality – this listening to 1 one other, this working collectively, transferring ahead collectively, studying from each other, and never instantly treating one’s personal opinion as absolute.”

In keeping with his personal account, Würtz was visiting Eichstätt for the very first time when he was appointed as bishop. “I believe that when most individuals heard the title Christian Würtz, that they had no concept who he was,” the brand new bishop of Eichstätt mentioned. “But it surely was actually fantastic for me to see that the cathedral was so full, that folks spontaneously applauded, and proper after the announcement of my appointment, I went out to the cathedral’s forecourt and met many individuals there.”

“It’s a stunning coincidence that my appointment takes place on the feast day of St. Willibald, the patron saint of the Diocese of Eichstätt. I hope that, with my expertise and skills, I can even contribute to constructing the Kingdom of God in Eichstätt and stroll alongside the folks right here,” Würtz mentioned in an official diocesan assertion after his appointment.

“I thank Pope Leo for the belief he has positioned in me and am now wanting ahead to attending to know the folks within the diocese,” he added.