Cardinal Marx meets with Pope; Cardinal Parolin says sanctions against German bishops premature

May 08, 2026

Pope Leo XIV received Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany, on May 7, amid public disagreement between the Vatican and the cardinal over the blessings of same-sex couples and couples who have remarried outside the Church.

Neither the Vatican nor Cardinal Marx, who is also coordinator of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, divulged the topics of the conversation.

The previous day, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, said that dialogue with the German bishops continues and that sanctions against the German bishops would be premature.

In April, Cardinal Marx instructed priests to facilitate the blessings of same-sex couples and couples who have remarried outside the Church—occasioning a journalist’s question and response from Pope Leo during a press conference on the papal plane.

Earlier this week, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a 2024 letter stating that “Blessings for couples who love one another,” then a draft document then under consideration by the German bishops, runs afoul of Fiducia Supplicans, the dicastery’s 2023 declaration on the pastoral meaning of blessings.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the dicastery’s prefect, later said that the Vatican’s criticisms of draft version also apply to the final version of the document, approved by the German bishops in 2025.

 

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Further information:

• Audiences, 07.05.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 5/7/26)
• Kardinal Marx von Papst Leo XIV. empfangen (katholisch.de, 5/7/26)
• Cardinal Parolin Says Talks With German Bishops Continue, Calls Sanctions Talk Premature (National Catholic Register, 5/6/26)
• Cardinal Parolin: Holy See’s position on peace and disarmament is firm (Vatican News, 5/6/26)