Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA).
A Vatican-issued declaration on blessing “same-sex couples” and couples in other “irregular situations” does not change the Catholic Church’s teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, according to a statement issued by the United States bishops.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith issued a declaration on Monday titled Fiducia Supplicans, which opened the door for priests to pastorally bless same-sex couples. However, the declaration also makes clear that such blessings cannot be performed in a way to resemble marriage and conveyed a distinction between a pastoral blessing and a sacramental blessing.
“The [declaration] articulated a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God’s loving grace in their lives,” Chieko Noguchi, the executive director of public affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement Monday.
“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,” Noguchi added.
Fiducia Supplicans states that the Church cannot permit a liturgical blessing for same-sex couples because it would “offer a form of moral legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an extra-marital sexual practice.”
Yet, the declaration states that the prohibition on liturgical blessings does not preclude priests from offering “spontaneous” pastoral blessings, which are “meant for everyone.” It adds that such blessings are for those who “do not claim a legitimation of their own status but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
The document emphasizes that such “spontaneous” pastoral blessings “should not become a liturgical or semi-liturgical act” and “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.”
Reactions among American Catholics have been mixed, with some members of the clergy praising the new guidelines and others expressing frustration.
Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, praised the declaration. Martin is the author of the book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.”
“The declaration opens the door to nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples, something that had been previously off limits for bishops, priests, and deacons,” Martin said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Along with many priests, I will now be delighted to bless my friends in same-sex unions.”
Martin referred to the new declaration as a “marked shift” from a 2021 explanatory note in a Responsum from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which said the Church “does not and cannot bless sin” when questioned about the blessings of same-sex unions. Both the 2021 document and the recent 2023 document were approved by Pope Francis.
In a response to Martin, Father Ronald Vierling posted on X that “the goal of authentic pastoral practice is the conversion of sinners” and that “pastoral outreach must be subordinate to the imitation of Christ the Good Shepherd, whose consistent, unwavering call is to repentance and conversion of life.”
Meanwhile, Stephen P. White, executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America, told CNA that the declaration ultimately acknowledges that “God does not and cannot bless sin; but he can and often does bless sinners, particularly when they ask him for the grace to grow in holiness.”
White added that “the DDF warned repeatedly about the necessity of avoiding scandal and confusion” but that “any hopes of avoiding such confusion and scandal seem to have evaporated almost instantly upon publication of the decree.”
“This was entirely predictable: from the wildly misleading press coverage, to the triumphalism from advocates of scrapping the Church’s teaching on sex and marriage, to the insistence from certain corners of the Church that they are now free to do precisely what the decree forbids,” White observed.
Over the past few years, priests in Germany and Belgium have been defying the Vatican’s previous prohibition on blessing same-sex couples. However, many of these blessings still appear to violate the new Vatican guidelines.
In both Belgium and Germany, some bishops have pushed for liturgical-style blessings of individuals in same-sex relationships. The Diocese of Flanders in Belgium approved a liturgy for blessing same-sex couples and the German Synodal Way in Germany openly backed blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. Both of these practices appear to still be in conflict with the Vatican guidelines.
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Given the already distorted triumphalism of advocates and the confusing press coverage, can we now conclude that priests have to decline to offer such blessings, precisely because the stated condition–” the necessity of avoiding scandal and confusion”–cannot be presumed?
Remarkable! On Vatican letterhead, a Declaration that self-destructs after five seconds. The ecclesial version of “Mission Impossible.”
While the bishops’ teaching is correct, the reality I believe will morph into a belief that same sex “marriages” will be acceptable in the Church. It will undermine the fact that homosexual acts are serious sins that must be confessed and absolved by a priest. Jesus teaches enter the narrow gate for wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many are those take that way. It seems to me that many in the Church belief in universal salvation and confuse the truth that Gods will is for all to be saved but does not abrogate free will.
This pope-splaining will never end. The document is clearly an effort to excuse and legitimize serious sin. Nothing more. What should be condemned from the pulpit instead receives an invitation to a “non-liturgical” blessing (whatever that means). The USCCB statement shows that we have only a handful of faithful, courageous bishops left in America. Only faithful laymen and priests will condemn this latest act of apostasy by Bergoglio.
USCCB and Stephen P. White at CU shill for pastoral heresy. That didn’t take long.
Btw, will the polyamorous get blessed? How about former Fr. Crow and his teen bride, or other priests who “love” teens? Those in human-animal marriages?
Oh, don’t be ridiculous, bishops. We’re not *that* stupid.
Blessing “same-sex couples” doesn’t change the Church’s teachings on sexuality? Come on.
Name me one other sin that the Church blesses. In any context.
This is a deal-breaker. Bergoglio has finally succeeded in bringing the Church to this ignominious juncture, where she is actually doing the work of the evil one and furthering the cause of death and degradation.
We need the bishops to resist, not rationalize.
Here it is, a pig from Rome, wearing lipstick. Will the Maccabees notice? Will they take it, lipstick and all, and eat it?
Our bishops are a pusillanimous bunch. Contemptible.
You can see why Bergoglio had Strickland and Burke dispatched when he did. They would not have taken this lying down.
It is clear. This attack on the Church by the Dark Vatican has been carefully planned and orchestrated.
And all it needs to succeed is for our supine, gutless bishops to say nothing. Which is pretty much their modus operandi.
The bishops are just trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Gavin Ashenden, former Anglican priest and now Catholic layman, is freer to call a spade a spade. So are Phil Lawler and Jeff Mirus at Catholic Culture.
My guess is that the *primary* aim of Fiducia supplicans is to stop practices developing in Germany, Belgium, etc., but I don’t understand why simply reminding folks that anyone can receive a blessing at Mass (during Communion, final blessing) was considered insufficient. Now we’re going to have a prolonged discussion about the ‘kinds’ of blessings and to whom, what, or when blessings can be imparted.
God bless you
Someone once said that when you mix food with poison, all you get is poison, and when you mix religion and politics (or, ideology), all you get is politics/ideology. This decisions feels ever-so-much like the latter. The Fiducia Supplicans words here deal only with one aspect of the issue; the “pastoral” desire to make all feel welcome. But, like postmodern ideology/politics, it leaves out the deeper, the more difficult, and the more clarifying reality expressed by Jesus in his encounter with the woman caught in adultery (Jn. 8:11), that is, “Then neither do I condemn you.” (This is the first part, the “welcoming and inclusive” part. But he adds, then, the deeper, more pressing and more liberating part, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” It is this part that ideology/politics leaves out in the postmodern world. As freedom and responsibility cannot be separated morally, neither can God’s mercy and justice. God’s love and forgiveness, require a response, that is, to turn away from that which is sinful. Which of these is more pastorally true, good, beautiful, and dare I say, effective? Which is in line with the true teachings of the Church?
I am no theologian, and certainly no scholar of Church law, but this decision seems to me to have more of the ambiguity of political/ideological language and a clear appeal to emotion. The press coverage is clearly more ideological and political than theological, and giddily so. The supporters of this declaration within the Church, like Jesuit Father James Martin, seem equally giddy. This declaration is already being tauted as a “victory” by the advocates of this ideology and by the press. Sadly, it seems that scandal is unavoidable, and already present. Does anyone truly believe this will bring about conversions from what is still sinful behavior? Or will it be used to support that behavior? Or, is this just the beginning on this matter, or any of the other controversial matters being pushed forward by those who are eager to “change” the Church, to make it more like their image of the postmodern world? Does anyone really believe that this declaration will encourage, enlighten, and deepen the knowledge of the faithful Catholic in the pews?
I’m reminded of Pope Paul VI’s statement in 1979, “From some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church.” And it is the ideologies of the world. We are supposed to be bringing Christ to the world, not the other way around.
Well, I see that firmer resistance is coming from the East.
Catholic Herald, Dec. 19.
Blessing irregular situations, blessing samesex couples, declaration that marriage doctrine doesn’t change, optics notwithstanding, it’s not what it is.