Beate Gilles has been named the general secretary of the German bishops’ conference. “Between the reality of life and conviction of many Catholics and the teachings of the Church there is a tension,” she wrote in 2019. “We want to hear people who ask the Church for a blessing for their partnership. . . . The blessing celebration asks for God’s blessing for a successful future of something that already exists. The blessing does not constitute a sacramental bond between the two persons.”