(LifeSiteNews) — A highly respected retired German priest recently announced his dissociation from the Diocese of Fulda in an open letter to Vicar General Dr. Martin Stanke, over its support for blessing same-sex “couples” and an upcoming LGBT “pride” parade.
In the July 26 open letter, Father Winfried Abel emphasized that he can no longer in good conscience remain affiliated with a diocese that encourages priests to “bless” homosexual “couples,” and recently offered a greeting for the “Christopher Street Day” “pride” parade that he stresses makes the diocese indistinguishable from secular society, per Katholische.net. In recent years, the German bishops have become notorious for their heterodox “Synodal Way,” which has approved same-sex “blessings.”
The diocese is promoting the original sin of ‘Pride’
The 86-year-old priest first highlighted Martin’s greeting for the “Christopher Street Day,” an annual German gay “pride” parade that stressed the Church’s past “exclusion” of those who identify as “queer” but omitted any mention of Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
“So-called ‘pride parades’ are symptoms of a morally unleashed society that has exceeded the limits of decency and morality – they are a colorful performance of perversions, the glorification of tasteless obscenities and a spectacle of lost feeling of shame,” Abel wrote.
The priest then reminded the vicar general that “pride” was the original sin of man, and that man’s exit from Paradise was in fact the first “pride parade.”
“Pride” stands at the beginning of human history as the trigger of the primordial catastrophe, which we call the fall, because man stood in pride and presumption against God and (denounced) friendship with God. The first ‘Pride Parade’ was known to be the exodus of man from paradise.
German bishops no longer know the difference between the ‘blessed’ and ‘cursed’
Turning to same-sex “blessings,” Abel slammed the country’s bishops for publishing guidelines for “blessings” of same-sex, divorced and “remarried,” and other irregular unions just days after the passing of Pope Francis.
“Exactly two days after the passing of Pope Francis, ZDK recognized the vacancy as an auspicious time to publish the ‘hand of chaplains with blessings for couples who love themselves,’” the priest wrote.
“I am really deeply shocked by the fact that ‘my’ Catholic Church in this country, which I have served for 61 years, has become so sophisticated that even our bishops no longer know the difference between sexual, erotic, friendly and divine love,” he added.
Germany’s heterodox “Synodal Way” decided to allow and implement same-sex “blessings” in 2023. Later that year, Pope Francis’ controversial 2023 document, Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed the “blessings” of homosexual “couples” under certain conditions, offered much support to the heretical course of the German “Synodal Church.”
READ: ‘Sins against Christ’: Cdls. Burke, Müller slam German bishops’ approval of same-sex ‘blessings’
Indeed, the German Bishops’ guidelines cite Fiducia Supplicans to justify their heretical cause.
Abel, noting that his country’s bishops no longer seem to be capable of making a distinction between blessing and curse, reminds the vicar general that at the end of time Our Lord will separate the blessed from the cursed, which would include same-sex “couples” who do not repent of their sins and amend their lives.
The first group includes the Blessed Ones: ‘Come, you blessed of my father…!’ (Mt.25,34). The second group includes the cursed, whose life plan God confirms, – but not “valued” or “blessed”! Those who have chosen their own way, go to damnation. Anyone who understands something about the discernment of the spirits will immediately recognize that the “handout” of the bishops does not contain blessing but a curse.
Germany’s prelates MUST refuse to bless ‘same-sex’ couples
The priest then emphasized that the Church’s prelates have a duty to refuse to bless LGBT “couples,” who appear to have no intention of amending their lives, but unfortunately, by going along with Fiducia Supplicans and the German “Synodal Way,” are interpreting Scripture according to their own liberal ideologies.
(I)f a homosexual couple requests (a) blessing from the Church in order to be confirmed in his lifestyle, then the Church must refuse this blessing! In the end, no one takes any church that indicates the spirit of the times seriously. Anyone who refers to “Fiducia Supplicans” here or claims that the Bible does not contain any admonishing words on the subject of ‘homosexuality,’ interpret the Word of God ideologically and thus establishes his own teaching office
Abel concluded his letter by underscoring that he can no longer call himself a “priest of the Diocese of Fulda,” and suggested that Our Lord’s promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church may not be guaranteed in the diocese.
READ: German bishop suggests guidelines for blessing same-sex ‘couples,’ divorced and ‘remarried’
“In the future, I will no longer call myself ‘priest of the diocese of Fulda,’ but ‘(a priest) of the Roman Catholic Church,’” the priest wrote. “Because in the Petrine ministry, which has its seat in Rome, I see the guarantor of a Church, which still applies to Jesus’ promise: the gates of hell will not overpower it. The latter is no longer guaranteed to the church in Fulda.”
To read Fr. Abel’s full open letter, click HERE.
