German bishop quits synodal forum endorsing ‘polyvalent sexuality’

Denver Newsroom, Jun 22, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- The newly elected president of the Austrian bishops’ conference has sought to clarify his role in the publication of a book that suggests how a Church blessing of same-sex couples might be “celebrated” in Catholic churches.

Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg was elected last week to chair the Austrian bishops’ conference. He has been connected to a controversial book concerning the possibility of “official” liturgical blessings of homosexual unions.

While Lackner has been reported to have commissioned or even published the book, a spokesperson said June 18 that the archbishop put in motion a study project on same-sex liturgical blessings, but he did not oversee the publication of that particular text.

The book, “The Benediction of Same-Sex Partnerships,” is edited by Father Ewald Volgger, director of the Institute for Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at the Catholic Private University of Linz.

In its June 16 report on Lackner’s election as head of the Austrian bishops’ conference, CNA noted that the archbishop had served as chairman of the liturgical commission that commissioned the book.

Other reports have suggested a more direct connection between Lackner and the text.

In an April interview about the book’s release with KirchenZeitung, Volgger said that “the Austrian liturgical commission, chaired by Arcbishop Lackner, asked us to deal with” liturgical issues related to homosexuality, including the question of blessings for same-sex couples, which are the topic of the book.

English newspaper The Tablet reported May 6 that the book was “initiated by the archdiocese of Salzburg,” and that “the Austrian liturgical commission, chaired by Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg had commissioned the book’s authors to address the question of an official benediction.”

New Ways Ministries, which describes itself as a “a gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics,” reported May 25 that Lackner was responsible for publishing the book, because of “his desire for a more inclusive church.”

Television news program EWTN News Nightly also reported June 16 that Lackner commissioned the book. CNA and EWTN News Nightly are both services of EWTN News.

But in a June 18 email obtained by CNA, a spokesperson for the archbishop said that Lackner did not directly commission the book edited by Volgger, because his term as liturgical commission chairman ended in 2018. The archbishop did initiate the liturgical commission’s years-long study project on liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, the spokesperson explained.

While he was chairman, Lackner “asked the LKÖ to discuss the topic of liturgical offers for people in homosexual relationships in general,” the spokesperson said.

In the book’s foreword, Volgger offered more insight on the archbishop’s request.

“In the Liturgical Commission for Austria (LKÖ) on February 27th 2015 in Salzburg, the then chairman, Archbishop Franz Lackner, asked for an exchange on the question of blessings of homosexual couples. The occasion was a blessing ceremony in Switzerland, which had great media attention. In the discussion it became clear that  a moral theological clarification is needed, as well as a change in the magisterium on this point to allow for an official liturgy for same-sex couples.”

The blessing ceremony Volgger referenced was performed by a Swiss Protestant Reformed minister; the media attention Volgger referenced included an interview in which the minister, Sibylle Forrer, explained why she conferred the blessing.

According to Lackner’s spokesperson, the archbishop’s request “led to a study day in February 2016 and the LKÖ agreed, that the results of this study day should be compiled and that the topic should be further monitored.”

The 2020 text was part of the ongoing development of that project, as Volgger indicated to KirchenZeitung, as was a 2019 symposium on the topic. But since November 2018, Bishop Anton Leichtfried of St. Polten has overseen the Austrian liturgical commission. 

In his April interview, Volgger said that from his viewpoint, there are “a considerable number of bishops who would like to see a rethinking of sexual morality for the evaluation of same-sex partnerships.”

The priest also said that “a benediction,” of a same-sex couple “as it is proposed from a liturgical-theological point of view, would also have an official character, through which the Church expresses the obligation of fidelity and the exclusiveness of the relationship.”

In 2003, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”

CNA asked Lackner’s spokesperson why the archbishop was only now attempting to clarify his involvement, given that he has been reported for months to be responsible for the book. CNA also asked whether the book has the official approval of the Austrian bishops’ conference, of which Lackner is now president, or of the conference’s liturgical commission.

The archdiocese has not yet responded.

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Dublin, Ireland, Aug 9, 2018 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Twitter users will have access to special emojis commemorating Pope Francis’ visit to the Ireland later this month, the Irish Daily Mail reported Thursday.

The emoji, which can be accessed by use o… […]

Pope Francis and José María Del Corral, president of the Scholas Occurrentes youth movement, smile during a meeting with the group’s volunteers in Cascais, Portugal, on Aug. 3, 2023. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 3, 2023 / 08:50 am (CNA).

In his first encounters with young people ahead of his arrival at World Youth Day later in the day, Pope Francis on Thursday urged his audiences to use their knowledge and skills to care for the planet and the poor.

The Holy Father began his second day in Portugal with a meeting with students at the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon, followed by a visit with young volunteers in a coastal town outside the city who promote education in poor communities.

At the university, the pope first heard the testimonies of four students who shared their academic experiences and hopes for the future. The theme there was “integral ecology,” a view of the interconnected nature of the world’s problems that Francis developed in Laudato Si’, his 2015 encyclical on the environment.

“It seems to me that my generation is being asked not to ignore the many insights that Laudato Si’ offers us,” said Tomás Virtuoso, 29, a second-year theology student with undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics.

“First, when it encourages us to bring the best of science to bear, trusting in the divine gift of reason, to continue to find effective solutions to the challenges we face,” he explained.

“Secondly, when it asks us to reject technological progress that does not have a strong ethical and spiritual root, that does not ensure respect for the inviolable dignity of the person and of all creation,” he continued.

“Thirdly, when it leads us to the firm decision to live according to the demands of the common good, the structuring principle of the Church’s social doctrine,” which “places the preferential option for the poor at the center,” he said.

“Finally, when it encourages young Catholics of my generation to evangelize, to fearlessly affirm that an authentic integral ecology is not possible without God, that there can be no future in a world without God.”

Working for a just society

In his remarks, Pope Francis urged students to “seek and risk,” reminding them that an education like theirs is both a gift and a responsibility.

“A university would have little use if it were simply to train the next generation to perpetuate the present global system of elitism and inequality, in which higher education is the privilege of a happy few. Unless knowledge is embraced as a responsibility, it bears little fruit,” he said.

“An academic degree should not be seen merely as a license to pursue personal well-being but as a mandate to work for a more just and inclusive — that is, truly progressive — society.”

Speaking of the responsibility of environmental stewardship, the Holy Father challenged students not to be content with mere “palliative” or “halfway measures” that “simply delay the inevitable disaster,” as he observes in Laudato Si’.

“Rather, it is a matter of confronting head-on what sadly continues to be postponed: the need to redefine what we mean by progress and development,” he explained.

“In the name of progress, we have often regressed. Yours can be the generation that takes up this great challenge. You have the most advanced scientific and technological tools, but please, avoid falling into the trap of myopic and partial approaches,” he stressed.

“Keep in mind that we need an integral ecology, attentive to the sufferings both of the planet and the poor. We need to align the tragedy of desertification with that of refugees, the issue of increased migration with that of a declining birth rate, and to see the material dimension of life within the greater purview of the spiritual,” he said.

“Instead of polarized approaches,” the pope underscored, “we need a unified vision, a vision capable of embracing the whole.”

Order out of ‘chaos’

Later in Cascais, a picturesque medieval town and popular coastal resort west of Lisbon, Pope Francis met with young members of the Portuguese chapter of Scholas Occurrentes, an international youth movement. It was the pope himself, as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who founded the group, which promotes education in poor communities around the world.

While there, the pope was given a paintbrush he used to put the finishing touches on an elaborate “Life Between Worlds” mural that decorates the walls and ceiling of the group’s headquarters. “Old people and young people, rich and poor, children of different religions and nonbelievers, and young people of different nationalities participated in this work of art,” the group said in a statement.

In his unscripted remarks, the pope addressed the “chaos” some of the volunteers referenced in describing the challenges they face in their lives.

The pope reminded them that God always brings some good out of chaos, beginning with the first moments of creation.

“There it is in poetic language, how God makes light one day out of chaos, another day he makes man and goes on creating things and transforming chaos into cosmos,” he noted.

“The same thing happens in our lives. There are moments of crisis … that are chaotic … then the job of the people who accompany us, of a group like this, is to transform [that situation into] a cosmos,” he said.

After some time to eat and rest, the pope was set to arrive at the site of World Youth Day for a welcome service Thursday evening.

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