2023-12-19 18:13:46
Vatican – The Holy See announced that priests will be able to bless same-sex couples. However, according to the prefect of the Dicastery for the doctrine of faith, this position does not alter the institution’s traditional doctrine on marriage. This “Fiducia supplicans” position, published on the Holy See website, concerns the pastoral meaning of blessings.
Published on: 19/12/2023 – 17:13
2 min
According to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he claims that the intention is not to “legitimize anything, but just to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better”.
The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith claims that these blessings are “a real development”. However, the document stipulates that the institution’s traditional doctrine on marriage does not change.
The document specifies that, however, the status of same-sex couples is not officially validated, nor is the “perennial teaching of the Church on marriage” altered.
This decision would have been “based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis”: it is stipulated that the blessing can be attributed in contexts such as “a visit to a sanctuary, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group or during a pilgrimage”.
José Liote is the coordinator in Portugal of the homosexual Catholic organization “Rumos Novos”. In his view, in fact, this supposed advance of the Catholic Church, in practice, means excluding, once again, homosexual believers.
“The document is nothing more than “disguised” as a minor blessing and which, in no way, corresponds to the desires of LGBT Catholic couples… it is nothing more than reaffirming the doctrine. It is the reaffirmation of intrinsically disordered relationships, it is the reaffirming of sin, is the reaffirmation of the Church’s non-recognition of these relationships. In our opinion, it is another lost opportunity. Or, if we want, for us it is also another strong ax in the construction of bridges with those who are continually in the periphery, which, in this case, are the Catholic LGBT faithful.”
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