Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
Catholic bishops around the world are deeply divided on a Vatican declaration that permits nonliturgical blessings of homosexual couples: some bishops are welcoming the news, some are approaching it with caution, while others are outright refusing to implement it.
In some countries, including Austria, Germany, and France, many Church leaders have warmly embraced the new guidelines on blessings. The heads of the bishops’ conferences in both Germany and Austria have suggested that priests cannot refuse to perform blessings for homosexual couples.
Church leaders in other countries, namely the United States, the Philippines, Ukraine, Ghana, and Kenya, have mostly accepted the declaration but are also urging caution in its implementation. This, they say, is to avoid any confusion that would lead people to incorrectly believe the Church permits homosexual activity.
Alternatively, Church leaders in at least three countries are refusing to implement the declaration entirely: Kazakhstan, Malawi, and Zambia. Two Kazakh bishops have been more critical than others, going as far as admonishing Pope Francis for approving the declaration.
The declaration, titled Fiducia Supplicans, allows “spontaneous” pastoral blessings for “same-sex couples” and other couples in “irregular situations.” It does not allow liturgical blessings for homosexual couples and states the pastoral blessings “should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union and not even in connection with them” and cannot “be performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding.”
Bishops embrace blessing of homosexual couples
Some of the most enthusiastic support for the Vatican declaration came from high-ranking Church officials in Austria, Germany, and France.
Archbishop Franz Lackner, who heads the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, expressed “joy” over the Vatican declaration, according to an interview with Österreichischer Rundfunk, an Austrian public media company.
The archbishop said a relationship between a man and a woman is “ideal,” but “a relationship between two of the same sex is not entirely without truth: love, loyalty, and even hardship are shared with one another.”
Lackner said it is difficult to speak of a “must” in terms of religious life but that “basically, [a priest] can no longer say no” to blessing a homosexual couple.
Austria’s neighbors to the north in Germany are similarly embracing the declaration.
Bishop Georg Bätzing, who heads the German Bishops’ Conference, said he is “grateful for the pastoral perspective [the declaration] takes,” which he claims “points to the pastoral importance of a blessing that cannot be refused upon personal request.”
The bishop explained that blessings for homosexual couples are different from a marriage. He said that “a simple blessing need not and cannot require the same moral conditions that are required for receiving the sacraments.”
In France, Archbishop Hervé Giraud of the Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre told the French Catholic news outlet La Croix that the declaration provides “another idea of blessing, a blessing of growth and not a blessing of pure recognition” and suggested that he may bless homosexual couples himself.
“I myself could give a blessing to a same-sex couple, because I believe it’s based on a beautiful idea of blessing, according to the Gospel and the style of Christ,” Giraud said.
Bishops taking a more cautious approach
Numerous bishops around the world have accepted the declaration from the Vatican but have cautioned against misrepresenting the guidelines in a way that would suggest that the Church condones homosexual behavior.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement that highlighted the “distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings and pastoral blessings” and said: “The Church’s teaching on marriage has not changed, and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives.”
Diocesan approaches have varied. Some bishops, like Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, are emphasizing the Church’s continued prohibition on homosexual activities: “It is impossible for us to bless a same-sex union … [but] we may bless individuals who are not yet living in full accord with the Gospel,” the bishop said.
Other bishops, such as Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, suggested the Vatican document was a positive step for the Church. “We welcome this declaration, which will help many more in our community feel the closeness and compassion of God,” the cardinal said.
Filipino Archbishop Socrates Villegas of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan took a similar approach that emphasizes the Church’s teaching on homosexual behavior, saying that proper blessings for couples in irregular situations would be “asking God to have pity on both of them and to give them the grace of conversion so that they can regularize their relationships.”
“Priests who are invited to bless couples in irregular situations should choose the appropriate words to reveal this intent of the Church,” the archbishop said.
The statement from the Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops of Ukraine similarly said that the document provides “no ‘permission’ or ‘blessing’ for homosexual cohabitation or any life in sin.” The bishops were also critical of how the document was worded.
“What we missed in the document is that the Gospel calls sinners to conversion, and without a call to abandon the sinful life of homosexual couples, the blessing can look like approval,” the statement read.
Bishops in some African countries, such as Ghana and Kenya, also emphasized that the Church does not approve of homosexual activities when commenting on the declaration.
“If a gay couple goes to the priest to bless them, and the pope says yes, you are blessing the people and not the union,” Bishop Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, the president of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, said in an interview with Eyewitness News.
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement that noted that the Church works to “recover the lost and redirect all sinners back to the fount of salvation and of eternal life” but does not endorse sinful behavior, such as homosexual activity.
“In blessing persons, we do not bless the immoral actions they may perform but hope that the blessing and prayers offered over them as human persons will provoke them to conversion and to return to the ways of the Lord,” the statement read.
Bishops in three countries refuse to implement declaration
In at least three countries — Kazakhstan, Malawi, and Zambia — Church leaders are refusing to implement the Vatican declaration in any way.
Archbishop Tomash Peta and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of the Archdiocese of St. Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan, admonished Pope Francis and argued that the blessing of homosexual couples is a “great deception” and “evil” and has “far-reaching and destructive consequences.”
“To bless couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples is a serious abuse of the most holy name of God since this name is invoked upon an objectively sinful union of adultery or of homosexual activity,” the joint statement read, adding that the Church becomes “a propagandist of the globalist and ungodly ‘gender ideology’” if it permits such blessings.
The bishops forbade priests from performing such blessings, called on Pope Francis to revoke the declaration, and claimed that Pope Francis “does not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel,” quoting St. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians.
The Episcopal Conference of Malawi issued a statement saying it would not allow its priests to bless homosexual unions but did not directly criticize the pontiff. Rather, their statement said “certain erroneous interpretations … have generated interest, fears, and worries among Catholics.”
“We direct that for pastoral reasons, blessings of any kind and for same-sex unions of any kind are not permitted in Malawi,” the statement read.
Bishops in Malawi’s neighbor to the West, Zambia, issued a similar statement, refusing to allow their priests to bless homosexual couples.
The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops statement noted that the Vatican declaration “is not and should not be understood as an endorsement of same-sex unions,” noting that the Scripture “presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity.”
To avoid confusion, and to ensure the clergy does not violate any Zambian laws, the statement said the Vatican document will be “taken as for further reflection and not for implementation in Zambia.”
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A “queer” church cannot be legitimate, regardless of what George Bergoglio & his corrupt Churchmen have agreed to. To think this is not the open door to the full embrace of homosexuality in the Church is naive at best and dishonest at the worst. To sugar coat this sordid development also represents a serious lack of character. Shame on all the Church leaders for this betrayal of our historic Catholic faith. It is moral cowardice to acquiesce in the face of moral decadence.
Well said, Elwood. You have succinctly stated what we all know about this unholy “fix that was in” and planned a long time ago by ungodly men wearing liturgical attire. It really is as simple as that.
How, exactly, to bless a friendship without endorsing its sexual perversion? Or, more biblically, “A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3).
But, rather than blessing individual persons, why not just bless the coupling, tossing the smoldering wick into the haystack!
In his meditation on collegiality and the personal responsibility of each and every bishop, Ratzinger must have seen the ghost-writer Fernandez’s monologue coming, when he wrote: “MONOCRACY, THE SOLE RULE OF ONE PERSON, IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS.”
Also, such as this: “…there is no doctrine of Jesus without a skeleton, without dogmatic principle [….] his message is a definite one….He does not agree with everyone” [….] Catholic Christians believe that the faith is a contoured reality and that it is vitally necessary that it be so, for otherwise it would be robbed of meaning…They believe that the Church is able to—and should—see to it that these contours [!] are ‘catholic’ in the literal sense, hence, that at all times they manifest the WHOLE [italics] of revelation without narrowing or distortion” (citation from Albert Gorres).
(“Pluralism as a Problem for Church and Theology,” in THE NATURE AND MISSION OFTHEOLOGY: Approaches to Understanding Its Role in the Light of the Present Controversy, 1993/Ignatius 1995, pp. 86, 91).
In the early days, the “backwardist” Christians suffered martyrdom by fire rather than toss a pinch of ASH to a statue of the divinized emperor…
Today, the word merchants toss the entire Church in the fire, because in a pinch from those who doth covet their neighbor’s ASS! (“Neither shall thou covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his house, nor his field or manservant, his ox or his ass [!]…” (Deuteronomy 5:21).
So, in this blessed Christmas season of jolly fellowship, let’s all drink to that, “bottoms up!”
Anyone who can quoteth Scripture and say ass, can deserveth 3 toasts! Let’s cheers!
To all at CWR with special remarks for Beaulieu Undauted! Live among the good!
They’re jabbering about joy and they say CWR is no fun. Raise them high and down the hatch with them!
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you Carl Olson for so many delectful treats! Truth over fiction!
That’s more than 3! Huzzah!
The tragedy is that, contrary to the title of this article, the bishops around the world are generally NOT divided over this disastrous and evil declaration by Pope Francis. The overwhelming majority will silently consent to it. Only a handful will speak out on what is an obvious act of apostasy. The faithful – both laymen and priests – are abandoned, as usual.
That’s not an official “blessing”. You 2 men or 2 women wearing bands of Marriage just stand there holding hands with your head bowed as a priest makes the sign of the cross over you in the name of the Holy Trinity in front of the assembly before Mass. That won’t convey a confusing or misleading message to anyone. We’ve seen this kind of under-handed, back-a@@-wardist thinking before when lay people come forward at the time of communion to hand out our Lord like He’s a kids carnival ride ticket. Yeah, that’s the Real Presence! Don’t let what we do in disrespecting Him let you think otherwise. We’re seeing the aftermath of a Rome that has lost the faith just like Our Lady of LaSalette cautioned. SMH. Good thing it’s still alive in places like St. Mary’s Kansas.
The whole thing is badly crafted and was bound to divide. But this is not weighed as it should be -neither beforehand when it is necessary nor after when it is the more pressing. What is the drive to have this “focus” as THE peripheries.
In one sense I am not surprised the leadership is the source of so much temptation. In the very early days the our Father was altered from “lead us not into temptation” and every explanation was spread abroad for upholding change.
I imagine a square circle like this.
You die and go to hell and end up caught between rock boulders and a very angular hard place and you realize there’s no going back, you have to make up your mind and adjust -decide-that it is permanent, your final resting place. Some kind of cromlech maybe. As yet you haven’t seen the devils and the fires though and it escapes you for the moment. Also out of sight are the other damned. You don’t know they are giving you time to settle in comfortably, as how they take little pauses to do their own kind of planning for justice; nor know you that they will come later when you are composed and initiate some of their mercies with you more openly. They want to teach you that Here, there will Always be Far to go while all is Near.
Shudder, shudder, more shudder. Cold now, quite cold. Would that death could come to save us.
Division is not Of The Holy Ghost.
“The Two Catholic Religions In The Same Church Face Off In The Raging Global Revolution”
One cannot be affirming the Sanctity of human life from the moment of conception and the Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament Of Holy Matrimony, while denying The Sanctity of human life from the moment of conception, and the Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament Of Holy Matrimony, simultaneously.
Thus we can know through both Faith and Reason, that those who affirm that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, and those who deny that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque) , Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, because they desire to render onto Caesar, or themselves, what Has Always and Will Always Belong to God, cannot possibly both be part of The One Body Of Christ.
To not inform those who deny The Divinity Of The Holy Ghost, and Thus The Divinity Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, that they have ipso facto, separated themselves from Christ And His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, is to accommodate an occasion of sin.
CCC II. THE DEFINITION OF SIN
“1849 Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”121
1850 Sin is an offense against God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.”122 Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods,”123 knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.”124 In this proud self- exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.125
1851 It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal – so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world,126 the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.”
It is a sin to accomodate an occasion of sin, and thus cooperate with evils.”
Sex is allowed between a married man and woman ONLY. That must be a very difficult concept to grasp as it is destroying Protestant and Anglican Churches and may well do the same to the Catholic Church.
This is because for some time now, a second counterfeit religion has been attempting to subsist within The One Body Of Christ.
We can know through both Faith and Reason, that those who affirm that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, and those who deny that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque) , Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, because they desire to render onto Caesar, or themselves, what Has Always and Will Always Belong to God, cannot possibly both be part of The One Body Of Christ.
“It is not possible to have Sacramental Communion without Ecclesial Communion”, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost” (Filioque), For “It Is Through Christ, With Christ, And In Christ, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost”, that Holy Mother Church, outside of which there is no Salvation, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque ) exists.
“[A]ll evangelizers proclaim Christ, but Catholic evangelizers proclaim a Eucharistic Christ.”
“At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
“Penance, Penance, Penance!”
To not call a Council because one fears there will be a Schism, when in fact a Schism already exists, is a blasphemy against The Holy Ghost, and thus a blasphemy against The Divinity Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity.
To not inform those who deny The Divinity Of The Holy Ghost, and Thus The Divinity Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, that they have ipso facto, separated themselves from Christ And His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, is to accommodate an occasion of sin.
Mr. George Bergoglio is creating the moral mess he fully intended from the beginning.
Glad that the Christmas blessings to the Cardinal Fathers from the Holy Father that took place today, the shortest day in light , can help to shed much light that can go a long way in many areas , brought to us all too as a great blessing through the ‘hinge ‘ of the Cardinal Fathers . That role has been entrusted to each of us too to an extent in the responsibilty to let in what need to be and keep out what is detrimental,in the freedom of our human will called to be ever united to the Divine Will .
Rather surprised too that the talk and occasion is not given more focus in the news !
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-12/pope-christmas-greetings-roman-curia-listen-discern-journey.html
and better still, to listen to the gentle voice of Sr.Bernadette –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuaqw4VTkfw&t=1568s
The ‘style ‘ of God , as revealed in Jesus- as tender , close and compassionate , the need for humility and prayer and contemplation , not to be wolves who devour words without understanding .. not to use same as in ping pong ..a talk well worth listening again and again in families too, as a topic and style in gatherings too , such as how to escape the’labyrinth ‘ of passions by being raised above same ..to also help clarify the ‘confusions ‘ as to what the Holy Father means by blessing – to live in holiness, in relationship with God and others , raised above labyrinths , walking with Mary , who knew how to listen with the heart ..
Blessings !
Yes. Historically, the majority of bishops have not distinguished themselves. With exceptions, they’re not generally a courageous or even venturesome bunch.
At some of the Church’s most critical junctures in the past — 325, say, or 1534 — most of the bishops were cowering in the wings while others took control and the weighty events took place.
Only a few — St. Athanasius, St. John Fisher… and who else? — have ever stepped forward to defend the Catholic faith regardless of the cost.
No wonder there are so few saints who were bishops.
The cult of the Pontiff Francis is a communion of outlaws, who are living out their careers to formally declare their new establishment, what Fr. Robert Imbelli calls “the decapitated the Body of Christ.”
Deposal,deposement,to depose. the act of deposing, however you may use the word that correctly describes what needs to take place in order to restore the Papacy back to some semblance of Holiness that it had prior to the Bergoglian
imbroglio; why is it that noone commenting here will entertain such a notion? DEPOSE Jorje! IMHO,he’s asking for it! Those reponsible for calling for a Council to accomplish deposement should also call for prayer and fasting to do it right. And time’s awasting; it s/be implemented PDQ! The BarBouncer from Buenos Aires has had his day; now’s the moment to permanently retire him! God Bless All—RTR
Bishops are human, fragile, and mortal. We need to pray for the well-being and good health of our humble shepherds.
What better way to “love your neighbor” than to encourage them to sit next to you in Church and listen to the Word of God together. Listening to the Word of God changes a person’s heart. God’s church was never meant to be a private club—it is the tool God gave us to change the world. No one should be locked out of God’s Church.
While the Holy Father and those want the Church to progress somewhere, the Mystical Body of Christ will remain what it has been and always will be. It is made up of saints and sinners, but not those who are in mortal sin. They have already excommunicated themselves. They are always welcome to come back if they sincerely repent and go to confession. Those bishops and priests who claim to be Catholic and who fail to admonish those in mortal sin are in a worse state than the sinners, due to lack of true charity, which is to help them on the road to salvation.