Just over a week ago, 120 priests and other employees within the Catholic church community in Germany came out as queer as part of a campaign that demanded an end to institutional discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community within the church.

The campaign calls on the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to provide better protection of LGBTQ rights and for the church to revise its statements on sexuality based on “theological and human-scientific findings.” The group is also asking that the church takes accountability for their discrimination against LGBTQ+ people throughout history and wishes that the bishop take responsibility on behalf of the church.

One of the demands of the group on the Roman Catholic Church is that LGBTQ+ individuals should be able to live without fear and have access to all kinds of activities and occupations in the church without discrimination. All seven demands have been published on the group’s social media outlets under the “OutInChurch” initiative.

What does the Vatican have to say about it?

Last year, the Vatican ruled that priests cannot bless same-sex unions and that if a priest were to do so, these unions wouldn’t be considered valid. This ruling, of course, sparked a heated debate on the matter, with heavy resistance against it in some parts of Germany.

However, at least two bishops in Germany last year, including one of the pope’s top advisors Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, showed support for some sort of “pastoral” blessing for same-sex couples, and in Germany and the US, parishes and ministers have begun blessing same-sex unions anyway, as calls for bishops to institutionalize gay marriage grow stronger.

Formally, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), clearly ruled that this practice was not allowed.