Pope Francis Stirs Confusion Over Blessing Same-Sex Couples

The Catholic Church has been confusing at best and opening the door to degeneracy at worst this year on the issue of homosexuality. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published a declaration titled “Fiducia supplicans” on Monday that establishes a framework for blessing same-sex couples. Unsurprisingly, the media coverage of this has been botched, intentionally so. The Associated Press ran a headline “Pope says priests can bless same-sex unions, requests should not be subject to moral analysis.” And while Catholics debate to what extent Pope Francis is compromising on homosexuality, Protestants could fall into the media narrative that will and has been used to advance homosexuality in Evangelicalism. So what exactly is the truth regarding the Papal declaration? Confusion and chaos are the best answers.

As with the Holy Father’s above-mentioned response to the Dubia of two Cardinals, this Declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion. The value of this document, however, is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings, which is closely linked to a liturgical perspective. Such theological reflection, based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis, implies a real development from what has been said about blessings in the Magisterium and the official texts of the Church. This explains why this text has taken on the typology of a “Declaration.”

The Papist declaration heavily emphasizes in many places that the blessings are not to be liturgical. However, the claim that the Catholic Church is merely reinforcing existing doctrine false flat as the declaration clearly states that this is an “innovative contribution” to their doctrine on blessings.

It is precisely in this context that one can understand the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.

The Papist declaration attempts to delineate between blessing same-sex couples and same-sex unions. This novel delineation that is foreign to legacy media is the most innocent explanation for the media misreporting.

The Other Paul gives an excellent analysis of the declaration.

My own TL;DR after having read it just now:

1. Blessings of same-sex couples and other “irregular” relationships are explicitly ordered not to be done in any liturgical manner, or with any elements that could make it resemble a marriage ceremony in any way.

2. Nonetheless, God’s grace and blessings are condescending; do not require complete moral purity.

3. Those in “irregular relationships” – including SS ones – possess “positive elements.”

4. Blessings may be granted to the above in a non-liturgical manner, perhaps even preceded by prayer.

5. The recipients must be committed to conforming to God’s will. Importantly, it is not commanded that they explicitly acknowledge the sin of an irregular relationship; only *that* they are sinners in a generic sense. Priests are never called to admonish them for such particular sins.

TL;DR – The first fruits of a long-going silent revolution.

Earlier this year it became apparent that Pope Francis endorsed a very gay Bible commentary, although this remains little known. Moreover, many European priests are openly defying Catholic teaching on this issue. It has been argued that this declaration will reign them in. Yet the individual priests are the ones going to carry this out, including the aforementioned liberal priests. Additionally, Pope Francis appears to be purging more conservative priests.

Ultimately what happens in the Catholic Church will not stay there, and they face the same fight on homosexuality. Should they succumb, much further the consequences will be disastrous for other denominations.