Catholic priests in Germany are blessing same-sex couples in defiance of the Pope Francis’s orders, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The blessing ceremonies, many of which were scheduled for Monday, are in response to the Vatican’s statement in March prohibiting priests from blessing gay marriages.
A priest in Munich blessed 30 couples, including 10 same-sex couples, during an event on Sunday after receiving threatening emails before the ceremony, according to the Journal.
The blessings are scheduled for about 100 churches across the country this month, the newspaper reported.
The move in Germany comes after an Austrian group called the Parish Priests Initiative vowed to bless same-sex unions. Some priests in the U.S. have done the same as well.
Conservative priests, however, have argued that blessing gay marriages could cause a rift in the church.
The president of the Bishops Conference in Germany, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, said the blessings of same-sex marriages aren’t “suitable as an instrument of church-political manifestations or protest actions,” the Journal reported.