“We are decisively distancing ourselves from this position,” he said.
The statement, signed by 266 theologians, said the decision lacked “theological depth, hermeneutical understanding, and argumentative rigor.”
While some of them support the Vatican’s position, other prominent Catholic clerics in Germany have spoken out against the decision, which was approved by Pope Francis and published on March 15.
“We need a reassessment of same-sex partnerships and a further development of the church’s sexual morality.”
Bätzing’s diocese also updated its Facebook profile photo to a picture of Limburg Cathedral surrounded by a rainbow, a symbol of the LGBT community and the phrase “#LoveIsNoSin”.
Bätzing is the head of the German Episcopal Conference, the governing body of the German Catholic Church.
The conference declined to comment when contacted by CNN.
Christoph Lentz, rector of the Pallottine community in Friedberg, Bavaria, also criticized the Vatican’s ruling, saying it was “unspeakable, intolerable and incomprehensible to people.”
Since Friday afternoon, the community has thrown a rainbow flag with a phrase from Genesis 12: 2 that reads, “You will be a blessing.”
The Vatican’s ruling is an obstacle for Catholics who hoped the institution would modernize its approach to homosexuality.
Dozens of countries, including many in Western Europe, have legalized same-sex marriage, and the church’s reluctance to embrace LGBTQ people has long had the potential to alienate younger followers.
While Pope Francis has often been praised for his welcoming tone toward LGBTQ people both inside and outside the church, he approved the March 15 statement.
“The blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered lawful,” wrote the Vatican’s higher doctrinal bureau, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“It is not lawful to give a blessing to relationships or partnerships, even stable ones, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of same-sex unions,” the statement said.
The blessing of same-sex unions, says the Vatican, would send a sign that the Catholic Church approves and encourages “a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as being objectively ordered to God’s revealed plans.”
The statement says that “God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world … but He does not bless and cannot bless sin.”
Among the German Catholic clerics who support the Vatican’s position are the bishops of Regensburg, Passau, Görlitz and Eichstätt, KNA, the news agency of the Conference of German Bishops, reports.
Homosexual unions are the latest issue the German Catholic Church has clashed with in the Vatican in recent years.
In 2019, it unveiled plans for a two-year process of calculation and reform to rebuild public confidence following a shocking report on child sexual abuse in the church.
These plans, which included debating priestly celibacy and whether to allow women to play greater roles in ecclesiastical life, drew criticism from the Vatican.
Rob Picheta and Delia Gallagher of CNN contributed to this report.