(CP) Pope Francis is looking for to make clear that the Catholic Church will not be changing its teachings about homosexual practices and same-sex relationships because the Vatican faces criticism for approving a document allowing priests to bless same-sex couples.
Delivering remarks on the plenary session of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Friday, the pontiff addressed the “Fiducia Supplicans” declaration handed down by the Vatican office last month. The declaration, published on Dec. 18, allows priests to bless same-sex couples while stressing that “one should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation.”
As Francis told the cardinals gathered on the Vatican’s Clementine Hall Friday, “The task of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is to assist the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world by promoting and safeguarding the integrity of Catholic teaching on faith and morals.”
“It does this by drawing upon the deposit of religion and looking for an ever deeper understanding of it within the face of recent questions,” Pope Francis said.
The pontiff elaborated on the reasoning behind the declaration, which received backlash from conservative Catholics who viewed the document as contradictory to church teaching on sexuality. It also received praise from LGBT-affirming Catholics who view it as a “step forward.”
“The intention of ‘pastoral and spontaneous blessings’ is to tangibly reveal the closeness of the Lord and of the Church to all those that, finding themselves in various situations, ask for help to proceed — sometimes to start — a journey of religion,” said Francis.
“I would love briefly to underline two things,” he added. “The first is that these blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, don’t demand moral perfection with a view to be received; the second, that when a pair approaches spontaneously to ask for them, one doesn’t bless the union, but simply the individuals who have required it together. Not the union, however the people, naturally considering the context, the sensibilities, and the places where one lives and essentially the most appropriate ways to do it.”
Francis’ remarks usually are not the primary time the Vatican has sought to make clear the implications of “Fiducia Supplicans.”
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith who authored the declaration, released a five-page statement earlier this month insisting that “the document is evident and definitive about marriage and sexuality.”
Fernandez stated that a “non-ritualized type of blessing” offered to same-sex couples would last not more than 15 seconds and “doesn’t intend to justify anything that will not be morally acceptable.” He defined blessings of same-sex couples as merely a “response of a pastor towards two individuals who ask for God’s help.”
Following the publication of “Fiducia Supplicans,” some Catholic bishops have explicitly prohibited the blessings of same-sex couples inside the dioceses they oversee, including the leader of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana in Kazakhstan.
Reacting to such actions in his clarification, Fernandez asserted that “there is no such thing as a room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to contemplate it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church, or blasphemous.”
Three days after the declaration was published, Francis criticized what he called “rigid ideological positions” during an annual Christmas gathering on the Vatican.
“Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that always, under the guise of fine intentions, separate us from reality and forestall us from moving forward,” he said.
“Fear, rigidity and monotony make for an immobility that has the apparent advantage of not creating problems … but lead us to wander aimlessly inside our labyrinths, to the detriment of the service we’re called to supply the Church and the entire world,” the pontiff added. “It is very important to maintain faring forward, to maintain searching and growing in our understanding of the reality, overcoming the temptation to face still and never leave the ‘labyrinth’ of our fears.”
