Pope appoints proponent of same-sex blessings as bishop of Eichstätt

July 07, 2026

Pope Leo XIV today appointed Auxiliary Bishop Christian Würtz of Freiburg as the new bishop of Eichstätt, a Bavarian diocese with nearly 400,000 Catholics.

The 55-year-old prelate, who was ordained to the priesthood in 2006 and appointed an auxiliary bishop in 2019, succeeds Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke, O.S.B., who resigned last year at the age of 70.

Bishop Würtz and Bishop Hanke took opposing stances on controversial aspects of the German Synodal Way. Bishop Würtz supported, and Bishop Hanke opposed, the following resolution on the blessings of same-sex couples and couples who have remarried outside the Church:

Same-sex couples and remarried couples have frequently experienced exclusion and disparagement within our Church. The possibility of publicly placing their partnership under God’s blessing does not undo those experiences. However, it offers the Church an opportunity to show appreciation for the love present in these relationships and the values ​​lived out within them, thereby making reconciliation possible.

Likewise, Bishop Würtz supported, and Bishop Hanke opposed, the Synodal Way’s call for a reevaluation of Catholic teaching on homosexuality:

Since homosexual orientation is part of the human person as created by God, it is to be judged ethically no differently than heterosexual orientation ... Same-sex sexuality—even when expressed through sexual acts—is therefore not a sin that separates one from God, nor is it to be judged as intrinsically evil. Rather, it is to be evaluated based on the realization of the aforementioned values.

Bishop Würtz also supported, and Bishop Hanke opposed, the Synodal Way’s resolutions on women’s ordination; the latter resolution referred to Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope St. John Paul II’s 1994 apostolic letter on reserving priestly ordination to men alone.

Many associate the admission of women to the diaconate with the strengthening of the fundamental practice of charity, an element that the Second Vatican Council highlighted as a third essential aspect of the Church’s identity, alongside the task of evangelization through the proclamation of the Word of God and the liturgical celebration of the sacraments.

The question must be addressed to the highest authority in the Church (Pope and Council) as to whether the teaching of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis requires re-examination: In the service of evangelization, the aim is to enable appropriate participation by women in proclamation, in the sacramental representation of Christ, and in the building up of the Church. Whether or not the teaching of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis binds the Church infallibly must then be examined and clarified authoritatively at that level.

In some German dioceses, the cathedral chapter elects a bishop, but in Eichstätt, the Pope is “free to choose who he likes,” The Pillar reported last year, in an article that characterized the Pontiff’s eventual Eichstätt appointment as a bellwether.

 

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Further information:

• Rinunce e nomine (Holy See Press Office, 7/7/26)
• Bisheriger Freiburger Weihbischof Christian Würtz wird neuer Bischof von Eichstätt (CNA Deutsch Nachrichtenredaktion, 7/7/26)