Anselm Bilgri was a priest and a monk for years – and gay. Today he is considered a sharp critic of the Roman Catholic Church. Now he and his husband Markus want to be married in church.
Munich – Three quarters of a year after their civil marriage, the former Benedictine monk Anselm Bilgri and his husband Markus are planning the church wedding. “As soon as Corona allows, we will be married in St. Willibrord on Blumenstrasse by Pastor Siegfried Thuringer,” said Bilgri.
The Old Catholic Church, to which Bilgri now belongs, recently decided that homosexual couples can also marry there, said the ex-monk. In the Roman Catholic Church, their partnerships are not even allowed to be blessed.
Sharp criticism of the Roman Catholic Church
Bilgri is considered a sharp critic of his former church, speaks out against forced celibacy and in favor of more rights for homosexuals. Around 40 years ago he was ordained a priest by the future Pope Joseph Ratzinger – and later prior of the Andechs monastery. At the end of 2020, he announced that he had left the Roman Catholic Church and converted to the much more liberal Old Catholics. A short time later he made public that he was gay and had been living with his partner, who was almost 30 years his junior, for years. The couple was married in March of this year by the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter (SPD). dpa
