“We have decisively distanced ourselves from this position,” said the newspaper.
The statement, signed by 266 theologians, said that the decision lacks “theological depth, hermeneutical understanding and also 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.”
The Diocese of Bätzing also updated its Facebook profile picture to an image 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 Catholic Church in Germany.
The conference declined to comment when contacted by CNN.
Christoph Lentz, rector of the Pallottine community in Friedberg, Bavaria, also criticized the Vatican’s decision, saying it was “unspeakable, intolerable and incomprehensible to people”.
Since Friday afternoon, the community has been raising a rainbow flag with a phrase in Genesis 12: 2 that says, “You will be a blessing.”
The Vatican’s decision is a setback for Catholics who hoped the institution would modernize its approach to homosexuality.
Dozens of countries, including many in Western Europe, have legalized same-sex marriages, and the Church’s reluctance to embrace LGBTQ people has long had the potential to keep it away from younger followers.
Although Pope Francis was often praised for his welcoming tone to LGBTQ people inside and outside the Church, he approved the March 15 statement.
“The blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered lawful,” wrote the Vatican’s main doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“It is not lawful to give blessings to relationships or partnerships, even if stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of unions between people of the same sex”, says the statement.
Blessing of same-sex unions, says the Vatican, would send a signal that the Catholic Church approves and encourages “a choice and lifestyle that cannot be recognized as objectively ordained 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 and cannot bless sin.”
Among the German Catholic clergy supporting the Vatican’s position are the bishops of Regensburg, Passau, Görlitz and Eichstätt, KNA, the news agency of the German Episcopal Conference, reports.
Same-sex unions are the last issue on which the German Catholic Church has clashed with the Vatican in recent years.
In 2019, he revealed plans for a two-year reckoning and reform process to rebuild public confidence following a shocking report on child sexual abuse in the church.
These plans, which included the debate on priestly celibacy and the possibility of allowing women to play greater roles in ecclesiastical life, drew criticism from the Vatican.
CNN’s Rob Picheta and Delia Gallagher contributed to this report.