Rome Newsroom, Jan 25, 2024 / 08:30 am (CNA).
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said Pope Francis’ recent declaration allowing the blessing of same-sex couples under certain conditions “creates confusion” and suggested that its author, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, should resign or be dismissed.
In a statement published Jan. 23 on his blog, Zen said the declaration Fiducia Supplicans contains numerous passages in need of clarification and “leaves many questions unanswered,” according to an unofficial translation.
The 91-year-old Hong Kong cardinal emeritus highlighted in particular how the declaration appeared to him to condone sexual behavior in same-sex relationships by implying such a relationship has an “intrinsic goodness” and can “mature” and “grow.”
Noting how the declaration appears to be similar to Pope Francis’ response to one of five “dubia” that the cardinal and four other cardinals sent last summer in which they sought clarification on same-sex blessings, Zen said Fiducia Supplicans (“Supplicating Trust”) makes the claim that “same-sex sexual love is ‘similar’ to marital love!”
“This is an absolute subjective error,” he said. “According to objective truth, that behavior is a grave sin and can never be good.”
The cardinal asked that if Fernández, as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, “is committing a heresy by claiming a serious sin as ‘good,’ then shouldn’t the prefect resign or be dismissed?”
Zen was referring to paragraph 31 of the document, which refers to those in same-sex relationships who, although they “do not claim legitimization of their own status,” nevertheless “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.”
“These forms of blessing,” the paragraph continues, “express a supplication that God may grant those aids that come from the impulses of his Spirit — what classical theology calls ‘actual grace’ — so that human relationships may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties, and that they may express themselves in the ever-increasing dimension of the divine love.”
Widespread criticism
Zen’s statement adds another prominent voice to the widespread criticism that Fiducia Supplicans has received from prelates and episcopal conferences since its surprise release on Dec. 18.
In his statement, Zen acknowledged that the document stresses no blessing should be misunderstood, and the Church does not approve of the “sexual union” of a same-sex couple or of a man and a woman living in an irregular union not in conformity with the Church’s teaching.
But at the same time, he said it “goes on to say that in certain circumstances, out of pastoral love, blessings may be given to same-sex couples and to other men and women living in irregular relationships.”
That “leaves many questions unanswered,” the Hong Kong cardinal said, while at the same time the document explicitly precludes the possibility of further discussion of it.
Turning to what he saw as another point of confusion, he said that in a subsequent Jan. 4 clarification, Fernández strongly denied that the declaration was “contrary to ecclesiastical reasoning” but “on the other hand, recognizes that bishops and bishops’ conferences have reason to have certain doubts about it” and will need “a longer period of time to study it.”
Zen said that is “tantamount” to saying that Fiducia Supplicans “is not valid for the time being.”
Other problems
The cardinal then set about discussing what he sees as other serious specific problems with the declaration.
He noted that the document says couples who ask for a blessing “may” also ask for God’s grace to conform fully to his will, but he also observed that the declaration states the priest is not supposed to examine them to see if they have such an intention. “How can a priest bless him or her if they are not sure they have such an intention, or if there is reason to suspect they do not have such an intention at all?” Zen asked.
On another point, he recalled that Scripture says pastors are to “protect the sheep, heal the wounded, and lead back the lost” but added that the declaration appears to say that individuals could obtain a blessing as a “couple” and leave as a “couple” after the blessing. “Doesn’t that mean that they can, at least for the time being, continue to live in the ‘wrong,’ i.e. sinful way?” he asked.
Zen noted that the declaration frequently stresses the need to avoid confusion, but the blessings encouraged by the declaration “do in fact create confusion.”
He further mentioned how secular media “intentionally” adds to the confusion and wondered why Church figures such as Jesuit Father James Martin, homosexual rights advocate Sister of Loretto Jeannine Gramick, and the German bishops are allowed to “create confusion” or fail to follow “some of the rules” in the declaration. “Is it consistent with pastoral principles to create confusion on this important issue?” he said.
The cardinal closed by saying that the matter of blessing same-sex couples and others in unions that contradict Church teaching should be freely discussed at the upcoming synodal assembly in October in order to reach conclusions on the issue. Fiducia Supplicans is a “preemptive” declaration, the cardinal said, which showed “grave contempt for the office of the bishops — the successors of the apostles, the brothers of the pope!”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.
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Sfiducia supplicans is the height of arrogance and hypocrisy.
I thank God that there are still faithful bishops left to object after Bergoglio’s ongoing purge.
Amen.
Dear Brineyman, not simply arrogance & hypocrisy; FAR worse, a massive ignorance of the fundamentals of our Catholic life in Christ.
PF, CF, JM, & cohort go right off the rails by conflating the physiological joy of biologically determined endocrine action [flesh driving soul], with the totally distinct cerebral joy of divine encounter in praise & worship [spirit driving soul]. As The LORD Jesus exhorts us in Luke 10:20 – “. rejoice that your names are written in Heaven.” That sort of rejoicing is, in every way, distinct from sexual joys.
The ECSTASIES of a soul driven by The Holy Spirit are as cheese to the chalk of the JOYS of our soul driven by our flesh. For a Christian pastor, is there anything more derelict & damaging than confusing these two distinct kinds of joy?
As part of all that Jesuit education were they never taught the difference between flesh, soul, & spirit? This displays shocking ignorance of The New Testament, where ‘soulishness’ is repeatedly contrasted with true spirituality. Natural persons are lost eternally. To be saved a person must have Christ’s Spirit (Romans 8:9).
Is this not damnable doctrinal malfeasance in Rome, since the rampant soulishness advocated by PF, CF, JM & cohort can never save our souls. What a deception!
The truth is that The Father will deluge those who ask with The Holy Spirit, often manifesting as personal ECSTASY. I can vouch for this in my life. As a visible example: touches of divine ECSTASY can readily be observed on the faces of the performers, led by Matt Redman, & many of the audience at The San Juan Capistrano Mission, singing: ‘The Praise Is Yours.’
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Matt+Redman+-+The+Praise+Is+Yours+(Live+From+The+Mission)&cvid=65f39257407b4fe4b08706c16e02a17e&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg9MgYIAhBFGEDSAQgxOTY0ajBqNKgCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=HCTS
Catholics have lived this truth from the start. Every Catholic needs to ask: “Where is it that PF, CF, JM & cohort get their ‘new teaching’ from?”
Always in the grace & mercy of King Jesus Crist; love & blessings from marty
He must be told he has ipso facto separated himself from Christ and His Church for blasphemy against The Divinity Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity.
One realistic way to RESIGN, and to help the Holy Father also save face, would be to broaden (as in un-narrow) the upcoming document on human dignity…
(We read elsewhere from Fernandez that, “We are preparing a very important document on human dignity that not only includes social issues but also strong criticism on moral issues such as sex changes, surrogacy, gender ideology, etc. In that sense, the people who are most concerned will be able to take it easy.” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/01/18/cardinal-fernandez-says-pope-francis-knew-about-his-book-mystical-passion/ ).
So, as PART of the awaited document and in a few crisp sentences of clarity, why not rescind and recast Fiducia Supplicants? Surely, the current version is really only a draft, now vetted howver clumsily among the collegial Church (as was the Catechism, etc. etc.)
The REAL DEAL, no longer cleverly dismembered, is only now to be proclaimed! Fiducia Supplicans can be lipsticked as a sort of China-style “provisional agreement”—BUT that need not be sustained or renewed. For Fernandez a plausible exit via the side door rather than via the dumpster.
And, thus, no further attempts to QUARANTINE (!) loyal dissent from within the universal (?) Church: all of continental Africa, Poland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Peru, at least part of France, Cardinal Zen, and former Prefect Cardinal Muller who merits more than three minutes at Synod 2024, and uncounted others either confused or intimidated into silence.
AND, then, perhaps a Synod 2024 which also withdraws, so to speak, from the infiltrated German model conflating “collegiality” among the Successors of the Apostles with (categorically distinct) “consultation” of non-ordained and voting laity ostensibly responding to the “universal call to holiness”?
For such a brilliant man whom I always enjoy reading, you seem, shall I say, overly optimistic. What you hope for is on the order of expecting Karl Marx to admit he was wrong and then open up a Burger King franchise.
By “plausible” yours truly meant slightly better than “if pigs had wings, they could fly,” but still much less than “likely.” Butt more imaginative than we can expect, if only the words of truth could be inserted into next document, politically sidestepping a more forthright retraction of the current document, which is more unlikely.
And, as for Synod 2024, itself, if it’s not preceded by a surprise conclave, say, for health reasons, then the proceedings do seem much more vulnerable to the light of day than was the predictable 2023 town-hall open mic. Already old news! Now, the slippery slope into witless a German schism looms large. Such formalized ruptures require up to a millennium to even merit small talk about getting back on track (thinking back to the derailings of 1519 or 1054).
One need not be “brilliant” to recall concrete (!) history, and fantasize at least an imaginable path. One need be only less amnesiac than the “forwardist” experts, even at the risk of being branded either “backwardist” or overly optimistic.
God reward Cardinal Zen. There is a real priest.
I have but two questions regarding this whole debate. Do not the teachings of Christ supercede whatever doctrine the leaders of the church have created based on THEIR interpretation of the law? This is what He told the Pharisees
when they tried to trick Him. Would Jesus bless a homosexual if
He encountered one in the streets or in the temple? The clergy should behave according to the answered to those questions.
“Any office becomes vacant upon the fact and without any declaration by tacit resignation recognized by the law itself if a cleric:
4.° Publicly defects from the Catholic faith
(Canon 188 n.4)”
Father Elias Leyds left a parting gift, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner – in the way of right. Listen to his video.
Filioque English (58) 2024 a remarkable start with Ad Theologiam Promovendam and Fiducia Supplicans / EWTN Lage Landen – Low Countries – Jan 16, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL1kf6Eql8k
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256635/ewtn-mourns-death-of-fr-elias-leyds-heart-of-low-countries-apostolate
Oh, for a new St. Nicholas to arise and publicly slap these creepy wolves at the next synod gathering. Tucho should be tarred and feathered, along with Hollerich and the pope and many others. Let the progressives go be the apostates they already are and pray for them as they wander off into the world of man-made gods.
Cardinal Fernandez needs to be investigated as a child predator. He himself published an account of an erotic conversation he claims to have had with a sixteen-year-old girl. That he is a priest in good standing is a scandal.
“It is a sin to accommodate an occasion of sin and cooperate with evil.”
“Canon 188 §4 states that among the actions which automatically (ipso facto) cause any cleric to lose his office, even without any declaration on the part of a superior, is that of “defect[ing] publicly from the Catholic faith” (” A fide catholica publice defecerit“).
Who can deny that a schism is occurring in Christ’s Church, separating the counterfeit church from The True Church of Christ, as we are witnessing bishop v Bishop, cardinal v Cardinal, and pope v every validly elected Pope, due to the denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, and thus Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and The Teachings of The Magisterium, grounded in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, The Deposit Of Faith that Christ Has Entrusted To His Church?
By failing to use The Charitable Anathema, Vatican II, did change a Dogma of The Catholic Faith.
We need to bring back The Charitable Anathema, and while we are at it, bring back the Altar Rails!
“Behold your Mother.” – Christ On The Cross
Dear Blessed Mother Mary, Mirror Of Justice And Destroyer Of All Heresy, Who Through Your Fiat, Affirmed The Filioque, and thus the fact that There Is Only One Son Of God, One Word Of God Made Flesh, One Lamb Of God Who Can Taketh Away The Sins Of The World, Our Only Savior, Jesus The Christ, thus there can only be, One Spirit Of Perfect Complementary Love Between The Father And The Son, Who Must Proceed From Both The Father And The Son, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity (Filioque), hear our Prayer.
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.”
May a Council be called so that Our Blessed Mother’s Heart Can Triumph and restore Peace to Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, outside of which, there is no Salvation, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque).
A theologian assesses human acts from the perspective of God’s will expressed in nature, the divine ordering of all things to their ordained end. A sensualist instead seeks the pleasurable, and assesses the comfort, sense of well being that can be derived, say from a relationship. Regardless of who that might be. What’s lost in the sensualist’s translation of good and evil is the ordained good revealed by God in the natural law.
Cardinal Zen is a theologian. Cardinal Fernández is a sensualist. Fernández perceives intrinsic good in feelings of good. In doing so the moral order evaporates, because what is good becomes indistinguishable from what is evil. What may feel good and provide a sense of comfort and well being for some may not for others. The good becomes the consequence of caprice.
Hey, Fr. Morello, what’s this complication called “natural law”? Haven’t you heard that this here natural law moves around at will, or sensuality, or whatever…
Listen up! Rigid bigots, fixistic backwardists!
The Old Testament Moses got in wrong when he revealed: “[the command] is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts [!]; you have only to carry it out” (Deuteronomy 30: 1-20). Also, the New Testament St. Paul: “When the Gentiles who have no law do by nature [!] what the Law prescribes, these having no law are a law unto themselves. They show the work of the Law written in their hearts [!]” (Romans 2:14-15).
It’s almost as if the natural law is baked in from the beginning, and is not the plaything of ersatz theologians who seem to believe (believe?) that even the truth about ourselves is just a transient school of theological thought—destined now to be replaced by something more timely (“time is greater than space!”).
For some, the natural law does still hang around, but now it’s mounted on a skateboard, and the skateboard is called Fiducia Supplicans! The wide road: just like Broad-way’s 1947 “Streetcar named Desire,” or named sensuality, or whatever…
If there were no natural law by which we distinguish good from evil, then there wouldn’t be any basis, the undergirding for conscientious moral responsibility. Neither would there be right reason. Rather what we suffer are the capricious musings of Amoris and Fiducia.
A more succinct comment. “Such a relationship has an intrinsic goodness”, which Cardinal Zen perceives as heresy. Cardinal Fernández perceives intrinsic goodness in sentiment, in the comfort and compatibility two persons may have with eachother, rather than intrinsic good, because what is intrinsic good [or evil] is so by the nature of the act itself. Not by how positive we may feel about it. If that were so then any act contrary to what is ordained by God as good by nature, or natural law would be acceptable. Moral good would be indistinguishable from evil and non existent.
True, the desire to engage in a demeaning act of any nature, does not change the nature of the demeaning act. Acts that demean the inherent Dignity of the human person as a beloved son or daughter, are not and can never be acts of authentic Love. Love, which is rightly ordered to the inherent personal and relational Dignity of the persons existing in a Loving relationship, is devoid of every form of lust.
Godspeed!
When I go to confess my sins, I first ask the priest: “Bless me Father for I have sinned”. I have not yet received absolution and I am not yet in a state of grace. Once I receive the blessing,it becomes up to me to confess my sins, repent and seek the right path. The blessing is to help me in my endeavours. It has not condoned my sins… How can it be denied?
Michel. To enter a confessional indicates the willingness to confess our sins prior to the request for a blessing. The blessing has no positive effect if we enter a confessional determined not to acknowledge and confess our mortal sins. The penitent is in effect sinning against the Holy Spirit.
Father Morello, I am too old to be naive and I understand that some want to change the teachings of our Holy Mother the Church. These activists could easily move away from the Church and embrace another denomination, or even create their own denomination to accommodate their lifestyle. The activists don’t need a blessing, they only want to make a point and in the process, don’t care if this was to harm the Church. I am only thinking about the faithful ones who really struggle to reconcile their inclination or their current situation with their genuine faith. Can we make them aware that we are in communion with their struggle and would like to help ? Is there a better way to convey this message while seeking the Holy Spirit’s infinite power than to bless the struggling faithful ?
You express it well Michel. Yes, there is a way. I have had encounters with men and women inclined to same sex as a hospital chaplain with med staff. An example is an RN who was aware of my faith and my opposition to her behavior. Although that wasn’t transmitted to her by me personally. Insofar as she knew me I accepted her with kindness, and she showed appreciation by occasionally embracing me when I appeared in her unit. There’s a way of silent preaching that God helps us transmit. On occasion in other environments, I would let the trans person know that I would pray for them.
In the confessional I’ve absolved persons who were struggling, confessing frequently, some leading holy lives. In either forum the person would know by my demeanor that I would be readily available to convey God’s love to them. Much has to do with our demeanor Michel. Also, above all, the Church welcomes those who are afflicted to enter the Church physically as well as spiritually to receive guidance and solace.
Thank you, thank you so much.
I wonder… If the Vatican had authorized the clergy to, where appropriate, do the blessing… But who am I to write a script to the Vatican?…and as they say, hind sight is 20-20