Pope Francis surprised the world last month by authorizing priests to bless homosexual couples as long as this blessing is not in any way equated with marriage. The measure, the biggest step towards the inclusion of the LGTBI community to date in the Catholic Church, has generated many doubts among some bishops around the world, to which the Vatican wanted to clarify today that these blessings are not a “go-ahead.” nor a justification from the Church of “something that is not morally acceptable.”
In a statement from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the body in charge of regulating Catholic morality, the Holy See endorsed these blessings as a gesture of “pastoral proximity” both for couples “in irregular situations” – that is, all those who are not married in the Church – as well as for same-sex couples. However, he pointed out that these types of blessings should be short and spontaneous prayers, far from any form of ritual or specific dresses so as not to be confused with a wedding.
The movement did not please the most conservative sectors of the Church at all, and it has not been understood in many countries, particularly in Africa, where some priests and bishops have said they will ignore the new directives from the Vatican. It is an important issue since in some of these countries, such as Nigeria, same-sex relationships continue to be persecuted. Faced with this situation, the prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Argentine Víctor Manuel Fernández, has explained that each local bishop, depending on the characteristics of the place, must decide how to apply the new rules, but without completely refusing. at the rate that Francis is proposing to his priests.
However, the prefect also concedes that in no case does the Vatican declaration imply exposing homosexual people to violence. “If there is legislation that penalizes the mere fact of declaring oneself as gay with prison, and in some cases with torture and even death, it is understood that it would be an imprudent blessing,” he clarifies. The Holy See considers that in countries where homosexuality is criminalized, a “long-term broad pastoral task” must be carried out with formation or defense of human dignity, beyond blessings.
The Holy See insists that these “spontaneous or pastoral” blessings should be very brief, and has given the example of a divorced couple who during a pilgrimage asks a priest for a blessing. “Lord, look at these two children of yours, grant them health, work, peace, mutual help. Free them from everything that contradicts your Gospel and grant them to live according to your will. Amen,” the priest should tell them. “It’s 10 or 15 seconds. Does it make sense to deny this type of blessing to two people who beg for it?” asks the prefect.
“If a priest gives this type of simple blessings, he is not a heretic, he is not ratifying anything nor is he denying Catholic doctrine,” Fernández insists in this new explanatory document. “This form of non-ritualized blessing, with the simplicity and brevity of its form, is not intended to justify something that is not morally acceptable. Obviously it is not a marriage, but it is not even an approval or a ratification of anything. It’s just a pastor’s response to two people asking for God’s help. That is why in that case the pastor does not ask for conditions nor does he want to know the intimate life of these subjects,” he continues.
Given the questions that have arisen, the Vatican believes that perhaps in some places a catechesis should be carried out to help understand that these types of blessings “are not a ratification of the life led by those who request them.” “They are not an absolution either, because these gestures are far from being a sacrament or a rite,” they insist. They are simple expressions of pastoral closeness that do not have the same demands of a sacrament or a formal rite.” The December declaration, entitled Fiducia Supplicans: on the pastoral meaning of blessings, already largely insisted that in no way did the change modify the Church’s moral doctrine on marriage, which for Catholicism continues to be reserved for the union exclusive between a man and a woman.
