Rome Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023 / 15:22 pm
The Vatican has issued new guidance on the topic of blessings of same-sex attracted people, stating that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations.
The ruling, which also applies to Catholics civilly remarried without having received an annulment as well as to couples in other “irregular situations,” underscored that such blessings cannot be offered in a way that would cause any confusion about the nature of marriage, which the document affirms is the only “context that sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning.”
“The Church’s doctrine on this point remains firm,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) said in its Dec. 18 declaration.
The declaration emphasizes that blessings may only be given “spontaneously” and not in the context of a formal liturgical rite.
The guidance is the latest — and most authoritative — intervention by the Vatican on an issue that has embroiled the universal Church in recent years.
In September 2022, the bishops of the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium published a blessing ceremony for same-sex couples in their dioceses. The move appeared to be in stark contrast to the DDF’s February 2021 affirmation that the Church did not have the power to impart blessings on unions of persons of the same sex.
This past March, the controversial German Synodal Way approved a resolution to establish a formal liturgical blessing of same-sex unions as well as divorced and remarried Catholics. In August, the archbishop of Berlin said that he would not discipline priests who provided such blessings and published a roster of clergy willing to offer them.
A group of cardinals wrote to the pope in July requesting clarification on the Church’s stance on same-sex blessings, among other issues. Today’s DDF guidance builds upon many of the themes Pope Francis laid out in his response to the cardinals, which was published by the Vatican in October.
In its new declaration, the DDF asserted that its guidance would preclude subsequent attempts to formalize such blessings.
“What has been said in this declaration regarding the blessings of same-sex couples is sufficient to guide the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers in this regard,” the DDF said. “Thus, beyond the guidance provided above, no further response should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.”
But the ruling — the latest in a flurry of documents published by the DDF since Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Pope Francis’ longtime theological adviser, took over as prefect in September — is likely to generate further controversy on the issue, with both proponents and critics seeing it as a possible opening to additional changes down the road.
A ‘real development’
Titled “Supplicating Trust,” the DDF’s 5,000-word document is classified as a “declaration” because, as the text states, it “implies a real development from what has been said about blessings in the magisterium and the official texts of the Church.”
The basis for the DDF’s guidance on blessing same-sex couples is grounded in an apparently novel distinction between the liturgical and “pastoral-theological” understanding of blessings.
The DDF said that pastoral blessings, as opposed to those that take place according to formalized liturgical rites, can be more “spontaneous” and less bound by “moral prerequisites.”
“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,” Fernández wrote in the text’s introductory note.
The declaration, which was reviewed and signed by Pope Francis, offers “new clarifications” on the DDF’s 2021 guidance on the topic.
The DDF said its new guidance is in continuity with the 2021 text because the previous guidance applied only to “liturgical blessings,” which require “that what is blessed be conformed to God’s will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church.”
Because of the Church’s clear teaching that sexual relations only “find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning” in the “exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman,” the DDF underscores that “when it comes to blessings, the Church has the right and duty to avoid any rite that might contradict this conviction or lead to confusion.”
Liturgical vs. pastoral
But the DDF states that blessings should not be reduced to the liturgical “point of view alone.”
“Indeed, there is the danger that a pastoral gesture that is so beloved and widespread will be subjected to too many moral prerequisites, which, under the claim of control, could overshadow the unconditional power of God’s love that forms the basis for the gesture of blessing.”
With regard to these less formalized blessings, the Church “must shy away from resting its pastoral praxis on the fixed nature of certain doctrinal and disciplinary schemes,” the DDF says.
“Thus, when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it. For, those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection.”
The DDF also describes blessings “outside of a liturgical framework” as part of a “realm of greater spontaneity and freedom” that, while optional, are a valuable “pastoral resource.”
In a passage that reflects on the use of blessings in Scripture, the DDF states that the practice is “a positive message of comfort, care, and encouragement. The blessing expresses God’s merciful embrace and the Church’s motherhood, which invites the faithful to have the same feelings as God toward their brothers and sisters.”
A person who asks for a blessing, the DDF said, indicates that he is “in need of God’s saving presence in his life, and one who asks for a blessing from the Church recognizes the latter as a sacrament of the salvation that God offers.”
“Such blessings are meant for everyone,” the DDF states. “No one is to be excluded from them.”
Pastoral blessings of same-sex couples
“Within the horizon” of the pastoral understanding of blessings, the DDF states that there is “the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex.”
This understanding of blessings “may suggest that the ordained minister join in the prayer of those persons who, although in a union that cannot be compared in any way to marriage, desire to entrust themselves to the Lord and his mercy, to invoke his help, and to be guided to a greater understanding of his plan of love and of truth.”
The DDF states that couples seeking a blessing from God in this context “do not claim a legitimation of their own status” but instead ask that “all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Guidance for blessings
The declaration offers several qualifications for blessing same-sex couples and those in “irregular situations” in order “to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the sacrament of marriage.”
For one, these blessings should be “non-ritualized” and should not be expressed in any formal rite by ecclesial authorities.
“Indeed, such a ritualization would constitute a serious impoverishment because it would subject a gesture of great value in proper piety to excessive control, depriving ministers of freedom and spontaneity in their pastoral accompaniment of people’s lives,” the DDF states, explicitly stating that no one should “provide nor promote a ritual” for such blessings.
Additionally, to “avoid any form of confusion or scandal,” these blessings “should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them,” nor with any “clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding.”
Instead, the DDF envisions that blessings of same-sex couples and those in irregular situations would happen “spontaneously,” suggesting that they could take place in the context of “a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group, or during a pilgrimage.”
The DDF states that with such blessings, “there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.”
The “pastoral sensitivity” of ordained ministers should be formed to offer these kinds of spontaneous blessings, the DDF declared.
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God is love. Love is not sin. Union with God is love. Sin cannot be blessed, because sin does not lead to union with God. All are welcome…to repent.
True. Those who are in romantic relationships that cannot be reconciled with Christ, can present themselves individually for a Blessing with the hope that by accepting the Blessing, they may be placed on the path towards reconciliation.
Permitting a same sex couple who consider themselves to be a romantic couple, to come forward as a couple to receive a Blessing, would be promoting their lifestyle as a romantic couple, which cannot be reconciled with Christ.
A Blessing that serves to promote and Bless romantic relationships that do not serve wholly for the Good of oneself and one’s beloved, and can never be reconciled with Christ, cannot, in essence, be, a Blessing.
Exactly. So will those people in adulterous relationships be able to receive a blessing? Those practicing polygamy? All are welcomed…to repent and to live according to God’s terms, not ours. We all have a cross to bear and living according to the precepts of our Lord may not be easy, but to live according to His will is for our benefit, our flourishig, and for our eternal salvation. Better to be faithful and suffer here in this life and enjoy the heavenly banquet that awaits us, than to follow disordered desires now and suffer eternal damnation later.
Actually all are NOT welcomed: Those poor souls among us who attempt to live by the Church’s traditional and constant teaching on marriage and sexuality are apparently narrow bigots and obscurantists who will be cast into the outer darkness.
True.
This is a Faithful response to an unfaithful attempt to deny The Christ:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/12/19/gods-blessings-and-magisterial-teaching/
While the counterfeit church is attempting to eclipse The True Church Of Christ, The Veil Remains Lifted, Through The Deposit Of Faith that Christ Has Entrusted To His Church, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Through Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching Of The Magisterium, grounded in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.
“Behold your Mother.” -Jesus The Christ
Dear Blessed Mother Mary, Mirror Of Justice And Destroyer Of All Heresy, Who Through Your Fiat, Affirmed The Filioque, and thus the fact that There Is Only One Son Of God, One Word Of God Made Flesh, One Lamb Of God Who Can Taketh Away The Sins Of The World, Our Only Savior, Jesus The Christ, thus there can only be, One Spirit Of Perfect Complementary Love Between The Father And The Son, Who Must Proceed From Both The Father And The Son, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity (Filioque), hear our Prayer that A True Pope, and those Faithful Bishops In Communion With Christ and His Church, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, will do The Consecration Of Russia to your Immaculate Heart, exactly as you requested, visibly separating the counterfeit schismatic church from The True Church Of Christ, and affirming The Filioque. Although at the end of the Day, it is still a Great Mystery, It is no Mystery, that we exist, because God, The Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque) Exists.
Not to mention that sodomy is one of the sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance. Like murder, oppression of the poor, and depriving laborers of their just wages. So:
Father, I murder people. I’ve done it before and I plan to continue doing it. So, can I have a “spontaneous” and less bound by “moral prerequisites,” blessing, please? After all, “there is the danger that a pastoral gesture that is so beloved and widespread will be subjected to too many moral prerequisites, which, under the claim of control, could overshadow the unconditional power of God’s love that forms the basis for the gesture of blessing.”
Please go to the National Catholic Register and post your brilliant parody on their ongoing forum before they close it.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of Fernández (DDF💋) has given up on the weaponized boredom of Synodaling to go with a German blitzkrieg. Dig in. Resist. Stay Catholic. Christ will save His Bride.
Will He? I see no sign of it. The great apostasy has begun, and the bishops sit on their hands. There is no one to deliver us from the desolating sacrilege in the holy place. I have finally come to the conclusion that the Orthodox are right; the papacy is of man, not God.
The enthronement of Jesus as King and Ruler of the world and the Coronation of our Blessed Mother of Messianic Reign!
“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” “and a period of peace will be granted to the world” – The Blessed Mother
It is St. Catherine Laboure through whom Our Blessed Mother first announced the Coming of Messianic Reign on earth. Our Blessed Mother gave St. Catherine Laboure two visions, which combine together to describe the Coronation of our Blessed Mother as Queen over heaven and earth.
In St. Catherine’s first vision, she sees the Blessed Mother, standing on a cloud (heaven), gifting the world with a Globe-cross. The Blessed Mother is not yet Coronated with twelve stars over her head. The Globe-cross represents Messianic Reign on earth.
Then the vision switches to The Blessed Mother, standing on the crushed head of Satan, which indicates the defeat of secular world power, standing on earth. The Blessed Mother is no longer holding the Globe-cross, because God’s gift of Jesus’ Kingdom Come of Messianic Reign has now been received on earth. The Blessed Mother is now Coronated with, twelve Morningstar/Catholic Apostolic Successors, over Her head. A ‘morningstar’ is a, good or bad, world ruler.
2 Samuel 23:3
The God of Israel spoke; of me the Rock of Israel said, He that rules over men in justice, that rules in the fear of God, Is like the morning light at sunrise on a cloudless morning,…
Jesus will Rule on earth, with and through our Coronated Queen, the Blessed Mother. Our Coronated Queen will Rule on earth with and through our Catholic Church. The Catholic Church will Rule on earth using Jesus’ ‘Keys to the Kingdom’. Jesus’ ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ are Jesus’ lips binding (Catholic anathemas), and loosting (the Sacrament of Reconciliation), sins on earth. Jesus’ lips binding sinners to their sins is the only ‘Thrust into Hell’ weapon there is. Catholic anathema, which is Jesus’ lips binding sinners to their sins, is the weapon of a Combat Angel of the Apocalypse.
The Revelation 10 ‘small scroll’ is a list of, world wide, binding on all people, Catholic auto anathemas. Once the ‘small scroll’ is read, while Catholic Priests blow seven trumpets, Jesus is immediately enthroned as King and Ruler of the world in heaven. Jesus is not King and Ruler of the world, until His Subjects, Catholic Apostolic Successors/Jesus’ great Combat Angels of the Apocalypse, put His Laws into Enforcement on earth. When Jesus’ great Catholic Apostolic Successors do read the Revelation 10 ‘small scroll’ of Catholic Anathemas, Jesus is immediately crowned as King and Ruler of the world in heaven. The Immaculate Heart of Mary will then have Triumphed!
Psalms 47:6 God mounts the throne amid shouts of joy; the LORD, amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise. God is king over all the earth; sing hymns of praise. God rules over the nations; God sits upon his holy throne. The princes of the peoples assemble with the people of the God of Abraham. For the rulers of the earth belong to God, who is enthroned on high.
Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Anointed, and he will reign forever and ever’.
Upon the coming of Messianic Reign on earth, morningstar, ‘Lucifer’, secular world dominant power, starting with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Satan the serpent, falls from heaven as God’s de-selected ruler of the world. It is St. Michael the Archangel who places the crushed head of the serpent under the Blessed Mother’s feet. It is the Blessed Mother who Commands Archangel Michael, and his Combat Angels of the Apocalypse, into Battle with Satan on earth.
A portion of the Third Secret of Fatima
After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’
Lucifer
The name Lucifer originally denotes the planet Venus, emphasizing its brilliance. The Vulgate employs the word also for “the light of the morning” (Job 11:17), “the signs of the zodiac” (Job 38:32), and “the aurora” (Psalm 109:3). Metaphorically, the word is applied to the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:12) as preeminent among the princes of his time;…
…finally to Jesus Christ himself (2 Peter 1:19; Apocalypse 22:16).
Quoted from: New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, Lucifer
Isaiah 14:12 The King of Babylon.
How have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star, son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations!
Revelation 22:16
“It is I, Jesus, who have sent my angel to give you this testimony about the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the Morning Star shining bright.”
The Coronated Blessed Mother is now seen with rays streaming from her hands down to earth. The Fatima Seer children were once hit by rays streaming from the Blessed Mother’s hands and they immediately fell to the ground and started praising Jesus. They said they could not do otherwise. In other words, every knee on earth will bend to our Blessed Mother’s Son, Jesus Christ, once the Immaculate Heart of Mary has Triumphed!
Please visit the visions of St. Catherine Laboure
http://www.marys-touch.com/Saints/medal/medal.htm
Hallelujah! Let Jesus and our Coronated Blessed Mother Rule the world!
Jesus is Getting Married!
http://www.apocalypseangel.com/married.html
Is your opinion infallible? Wouldn’t your schismatic decision only add to the confusion that leads to chaos and apostasy? Why not stay and help Christ defend His Bride: The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church? He is hanging on the Cross. Stay Catholic at His feet with the Saints.
By the grace of God, I will never be my own Pope again. And no one, even a Pope, can make me leave the Catholic Church.
What course of action do you recommend in our present circumstances broken with the Church’s teaching taught constantly by his predecessors? Seriously, no irony or sarcasm intended.
Brother Glen, let’s pray for each other to be humble and stay Catholic. To admit with St. Therese that giving into worry is a lack of faith in divine providence. To accept theological mystery, even during crucifixion. To be silent, knowing that God is God and we are not. To frequent the Sacraments. To ask God: How can I reform my life to be conformed to Yours. We have lots to do!
Don’t get me wrong. If I had the talent of Dante, I would poetically put Pope Francis in Hell. But alas, I’m just a fool…
Just a question. When the saintly Paul VI, JP2 and BenedictXVI occupied the See of Peter why didn’t you think the papacy was of man? You don’t seem to know about the Borgia Popes. Brother, the come and go. The See of Peter remains. If the Church is blessed with saintly popes, we rejoice and flourish with their guidance. If a pope becomes a trial for the Church, we are also called to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
The only blessing that would make sense is, “Oh, Lord, please pour Thy grace on these two people, that they may repent of their sins and turn away from the evil lives that they have chosen to live.”
Absolutely perfect statement.
Title – Could be tricky.
The Vatican says that? CHRIST DOES NOT SAY THAT!
This is gonna be the straw that breaks the camels back.
COME LORD, JESUS!
He also said “Go and sin no more.”
The man in the photo, and his sr manager ftom Argentina yhe Pontiff Francis, are outlaws.
That could be seen in the case of the Pontiff Francis almost immediately with his numerous rehabilitations of his friends and friends’ acquaintances who were/are sex abusers and coverup artists, chief among his two-time runiing campaign managers ex-Eminence Mr. McCarrick and late Eminence Danneels, defender of “the Belgian McCarrick…aka Bishop Vanghelgue (McCarrick raped his friends son, Vanghelgue rsped his own little nephew).
These men are to be confronted, opposed at every step, snd prayed for, as Jesus commanded, that we are to “pray for your enemies.”
A truly disgusting act by Francis, but not at all surprising. Finally crossed the Rubicon. May God’s discipline be swift and severe.
Not surprising when considering the fact, now clearly illuminated by this erroneous document and the attempt to pass it off as teaching consistent with The Magisterium.
Jorge Bergoglio’s apostasy was external and made public and notorious, when as a cardinal, he stated in his book, On Heaven and Earth, in regards to same-sex sexual relationships, and thus same-sex sexual acts, prior to his election as pope, on page 117, denying The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), and demonstrating that he does not hold, keep, or teach The Catholic Faith, and was not in communion with Christ and His Church and he continues to act accordingly:
“If there is a union of a private nature, there is neither a third party, nor is society affected. Now, if the union is given the category of marriage, there could be children affected. Every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help shape their identity.”- Jorge Bergoglio, denying The Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and the fact that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, while denying sin done in private is sin.
The election of a man to The Papacy, who was not in communion with Christ and every other previously validly elected Pope, prior to his election, and is thus anti Pope and anti Filioque, is not valid.
The Office Of The MUNUS is “Forever”, as confirmed Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque).
Jorge Bergoglio, unlike every validly elected Pope, rejects The Office Of The MUNUS, and by his opposition to Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching Of The Magisterium, The Deposit Of Faith That Christ Has Entrusted To His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), has demonstrated that he cannot possibly be a successor of Peter.
And any Cardinal, who, with full knowledge of Jorge Bergoglio’s Apostasy from Christ and His Church, voted for his election to the Papacy, ipso facto separated himself from The One Body Of Christ.
Any office becomes vacant upon the fact and without any declaration by tacit resignation recognized by the law itself if a cleric:
4.° Publicly defects from the Catholic faith
(Canon 188 n.4)
https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12mysti.htm
“For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles. ”
Any office becomes vacant upon the fact and without any declaration by tacit resignation recognized by the law itself if a cleric:
4.° Publicly defects from the Catholic faith
(Canon 188 n.4)
https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12mysti.htm
“For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles. ”
Technically Francis has not changed anything on paper. That is beyond dispute. However the Pope and Fernández have created grave confusion here.
Real problem: The Pope has caused grave Confusion that He will not be correcting any time soon but technically He has literally changed nothing.
(i.e. A person or persons or two people of dubious relationship & dubious personal morality can ask for a spontaneous generic blessing from a priest. Just like before.)
Other problems: Radtrads and Modernists will insist doctrine on sexual morality has been formally changed (and media will run with this claim) so they may justify their own rebellions against the Truth and the Church).
I’ve seen Radtrads say “He changed Church doctrine! Time to leave the Church for the Orthodox/SSPX/SSPV/DIMMOND BROS etc!!”.
I’ve seen Father Martin say “Beware of people who said nothing has changed. This is significant! Now I can bless same sex couples with limitations etc”
Seen gay activists say soon we will have gay marriage!
But the fault for all this confusion is with the Pope and the Vatican.
They should have rebuked the Germans and left it alone.
@JimtheScott,
You got it!
Sowing Confusion and diabolically amusing themselves [see laughing pic in this article: Doctrinal dicastery explains how, when gay couples can be blessed | By Cindy Wooden – https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/doctrinal-dicastery-explains-how-when-gay-couples-can-be-blessed#:~:text=VATICAN%20CITY%20(CNS)%20%2D%2D%20A,the%20Vatican%20doctrinal%20office%20said.%5D.
Sowing confusion indeed. The above article in usccb.org says that blessings of a sinful union can be given as long as it does not give the “impression” of the Church’s doctrinal acceptance. What?! (“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing…. You will know them by their fruits.” Matt 7:15-16) Sorry, but by these fruits (actions) the Church shows favor, bordering on approval, towards LGBTQ+ and its sinful lifestyle — there is no mention by the Church to “repent!” — no matter how much the doctrinal dicastery rationalizes it in its mumbo-jumbo. And so, because of this current Vatican, Satan now has his toe inside our Church.
@ F M Shyanguya!
You get it!
From the Vatican document.
QUOTE “the invocation of a blessing that descends from God upon those who recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit. These forms of blessing express a supplication that God may grant those aids that come from the impulses of his Spirit what classical theology calls “actual grace” —so that human relationships may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties,”
I do believe sooner or later the Gay activists will read the above part and kvetch that Francis has put down the blue Print for Priests to pray the gay away….cause if you do all that the logical end is to stop having the sinful sex…
That may or may not have been the Pope’s or Fernandez’s intent but I’ll take and run with it.
Of the document I think Carl Olsen said it best (& I awarded him X/twitter for the day as a prize) it now takes 5000 words to say “Individual sinners even groups of two or more can get an individual blessing but
mortally sinful relationships cannot be blessed” so we are in trouble.*
*I paraphrase from memory.
It is not complicated. The Vatican has made it so and caused scandal That is on them. We are still duty bound to apply this document in an orthodox way and fight liberal interpretations of it.
Thought the Vatican has not made it easy and likely will never do so under this Pope.
@EMP
You cannae read the King’s English it seems and read words which are not in the text. Away ye go!
“But the fault for all this confusion is with the Pope and the Vatican.”
The confusion is the point. It allows the hierarchy to change the practice, with its implicit blessing of the sexual activity, while denying that anything has changed. Fr. Martin sees this clearly enough.
Clearly by refusing to rebuke Apostasy and their denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, and publishing a fraudulent document cf Apostasy that is fraudulent because they are attempting to pass it off as being consistent with Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and The Teaching Of The Magisterium, they have exposed themselves to be schismatic apostates.
Apostasy is what Apostasy does.
God works in Mysterious Ways, but we can know through both Faith and Reason, that this fraudulent document will go down in Salvational History as the document that in illuminating the fact that a counterfeit fraudulent church was attempting to subsist in The One Body Of Christ, in order to eclipse The True Church, lifted The Veil for all to see God’s Truth.
“Salvation is of The Jews”, From The Father, Through The Son, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost.(Filioque)
“At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
To all this, I have a few words to say:
“And the Beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the Beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur.” ~Revelation 19:20
Take heart, Christian soldier. St. Paul says:
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ~ Ephesians 6:11ff
After so many have been tragically abused physically, this pontificate abuses everyone theologically.
In a mysterious way, this pontificate will eventually force the Church to authentically develop her understanding of papal infallibility, papal abuse of office, etc. Pope Francis will leave so many pastoral heresies to correct, it will eventually have to be dealt with. We can expect a flurry of monkey business from monkey man at the DDF. Will there be women Cardinal Ministers to vote on the next Pope? Etc.
If the next Pope doesn’t clean up this mess, it could take centuries for the wildfire of heteropraxy to die out before we get a St. Gregory type to mend us. In the meantime , we pick up our cross and follow Christ.
“Make a mess” is certainly making a mess…
God help us
Do the first “couples” get a lipstick kiss copy from tucho ” hot lips” Fernandez as an incentive? Could be worth looking into?
Meow. 💋
Why just rewrite the CCC with pastoral heresies? This pontificate may as well start with Scripture to correct the pastoral rigorist of Christ. How are these as part of the “blessing”?
Be blessed, for the kingdom of Francis is at hand.
What therefore Francis has joined together, let not an individual put asunder.
Be fruitless and divide.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, being nice to them in the name Francis, teaching them to observe all that xe commanded you; and lo, xe is with you, at least for a bit longer.
It nothing else, it will be entertaining when he writes the throuple rationalizations for Francis and performs the first ceremony. A man and his wife and his mistress. Or has Rupnik already done this?
This is a supreme outrage from the “pope”.And will it devolve into another of PF’s airplane toss-offs @ 35,000 ft. such as “who am I to…..(whatever) etc., ad nauseum. We are now in a ‘tipping point’ with this person Bergoglio, and the dreaded word DEPOSE should come into play; it could just start out as an “inquiry” and rapidly de- scend into the chaos with PF being REMOVED by a called-to-order conference. But it needs to be started PDQ! With this (possible} fraud in power,
ANYTHING’S possible IMHO. God Bless All—RTR
“There is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness,” the document adds.
If there is no intention to legitimize sin, then any type of blessing is unnecessary.
Exactly. There should not be blessings of anything CONTRARY to God’s commandments. And the notion that a blessing request “may” miraculously produce some transcendence, mercy and closeness to God, and that it may be a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, is a presumptuous one. The Church’s “blessing” rationale is infantile in its reasonings, bordering on some utopian salvation for all and one without the repentance needed.
If the intention is to open one’s life to God, other openings to non-God must first close. Talking disables listening. One cannot listen if one’s mouth is busy and open, just as one cannot expel waste with a blocked digestive system.
Respecting that which the document of declaration, FS, expounds, does not our faith in Jesus involve following His teachings on love? His teachings presuppose graced acts. The faithful People of God do not scheme; they love, they will and work for the Good of the other. Loving, not offending, detracting or abusing the other; building up towards Glory, Joy and Peace; not destroying. Promoting existence. Loving others is neither narcissistic nor authoritarian elitism. To assume so might be considered judgmental and presumptuous. I pray FS is not ambiguous, lest Sancutaries empty when many observe behaviors in Churches that do not demonstrate love according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
It’s not about love, and framing it that way distracts from the main issue. It’s a question of truth and obedience, not love.
It’s clear that the Pope is a homosexualist and has surrounded himself with like-minded ecclesiasts. But fear not, Christ is the Head of the Catholic Church, not Francis. He is simply is the temporal steward who’s doing exactly as he intended i.e. making a mess of Christ’s Church.
the pope of ambiguity
Regardless of non liturgical spontaneity the blessing remains commendation of grave sin by a Catholic priest. This is what the world perceives because that’s what it is. Obfuscation included. The trajectory of this pontificate from the beginning is a shift away from Revelation and conversion to Christ, to a new paradigm of reinterpretation and accommodation. As if mutual compatibility is itself salvific religion.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
— Isaiah 5:20
And so, here we are. Serious sin is now to be blessed by the Church.
As long as the blessing isn’t in Latin, presumably.
How long before you can marry your children?
Your pets?
Your Corvette?
The ratfaced evil one has used unnatural acts to completely subvert the leadership of the Catholic Church. Quite astonishing.
Do you need any more evidence that disordered sexuality is sinful?
Vatican says it can bless same-sex relationships without condoning the lifestyle.
Vatican says 2+2 = 5.
More like 1+1=0 Lifeless ‘blessing’
“They were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent…Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” (Acts 2)
Dr. Grondelski, did you read Fiducia Supplicans? The document is explicit that the disordered relationship is not affirmed. There is no “blessing” of same-sex relationships. I see this as the Holy Father trying to bring in those on the peripheries of the flock and attempting to give them a moment of grace. It’s a noble goal, although I think this will cause far more problems than it solves.
But if such relationships are indeed “disordered,” would the best way to return to the Church consist in a visit to the confessional?
Similarly, now I, a married man, living with my (female) secretary, can go with her to a priest and get a blessing as a couple. Just as with the same-sex couple case, this would be extremely scandalous.
Paragraph 31 makes a vile mockery of a Catholic understanding of grace. It also belies your interpretation of not endorsing the “couple’s relationship” as a couple.
Now that Pope Francis has “his” people in leadership positions within the Magisterium they will continue down this path to destroy catholic doctrine and teaching. The Pope with this decision has begun to remove papal authority in issues of faith and morals leaving decision, not by the Holy Spirit, to those who want to completely change Church doctrine. Not unlike the secular world today, Good will soon be deemed Evil and Right will be defined as Wrong by our Church. Wonder why the Blessed MOther crys or Her Son pleads for His people to accept Truth of the Gospels.
So is this going to sometimes occur in a church in front of the altar, like after mass is over? Sometimes our parishioners will get sacrament of the sick and such at that time.
I already have issue with the annulment policy and am not sure how to interpret this latest development just before Christmas.
According to “Fiducia Supplicans”, the blessings for “irregular situations” are not liturgical or part of the Church’s doctrine so… just get up and leave while making some vocally disgusting comments. Do NOT applaud the blessings! And just maybe, especially before Christmas, the Church will then have to get its own private Satan’s village for these LGBTQ+ and “irregular” blessings.
A [Beasts’] Magician Trick!
15.03.2021
TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED:
Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to UNIONS of persons of the same sex?
RESPONSE:
Negative.
VS
18.12.2023
III. Blessings of COUPLES in Irregular Situations and of Couples of the Same Sex
https://twitter.com/CrucifixDamiano/status/1736865531062550745?t=lvXb948fseLL9HhriyI4Tw&s=19
“Go and become disciples of the world”
-Pope F
So incredibly sad these things are happening within our Church.
We need tremendous renewal, purification, and a return to the Gospel.
It is really hard to function as a pastor in the Catholic Church with these kind of confusing statements coming from the Pope and the Vatican.
Praying for the intercession of Our Lady of Sorrows for all the brokenness in our Church. She must be weeping over all of this and the lack of the call to repentance and faith in her Son.
Hang in there Fr. James.
There really are interests who desire a splintered, divided Church & low Catholic morale. A weakened Church without authority poses less of a threat to their vision of a secularized society. We need to stand strong against that. The devil is the author of all discouragement.
I appreciate that it is harder amidst this ecclesial chaos to function as a Pastor. Please know that it is easier for the laity to stay in the pews when they know that a Pastor like you is out there. May Christ, our Pastor, lead us.
Bored Catholics who don’t like to pray are little different than bored Gnostics or bored atheists. Rather than the delayed gratification of sacrificial or altruistic virtue, their sense of esteem pursues satisfaction through the reordering of reality in their own image. And when you give a bored Catholic a lot of power, there’s no telling what he might do. Imagine if he became pope? He just might turn the whole order of faith upside down.
The Bergoglian Papacy will go down in history as known, not for its love of Christ and the salvation of souls, but for its Weaponized Ambiguity. For this, Christ Himself told us, He will spit them out of His mouth.
With somewhat morbid curiosity, I await the reaction of those inveterate popesplainers at Where Peter Is. Meanwhile, I received this reaction in an email from a colleague, one of the best-known Catholic theologians in America today: “Must the news coming out of Rome always be this depressing? Not to mention maddening. We really must pray that God take him soon. Of course, it hardly matters at this point, so extensive has the damage he’s inflicted been.”
More double talk. The forked tongue delivering with an imprimatur.
Overlooked are those souls who shoulder the cross of SSA and have heroically, either individually or with support of Courage, have struggled long to overcome their drives and live faithfully according to Sacred Scripture in accordance with Christ’s teaching.
How betrayed and undermined they must feel.
But perhaps their personal experience has provided them the required street smarts, trained them to be sufficiently vigilant against the wickedness and snares of the devil, that they recognize this confected document to be what it is: a bold deception as should we all. It is a sterling example of pastoral malpractice, pastoral abuse. Be aware, the “hand up” is a seduction.
James, excellent observation and reminder to pray for the “overlooked” and “betrayed” with SSA attraction and trying to live faithfully. St Peter Damien pray for us.
Come down, sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter Babylon;
Sit on the ground, dethroned,
O daughter of the Chaldeans.
No longer shall you be called
dainty and delicate.
I will take vengeance,
I will yield to no entreaty,
says our redeemer,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts,
the Holy One of Israel.
Go into darkness and sit in silence,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
No longer shall you be called
sovereign mistress of kingdoms.
Angry at my people,
I profaned my inheritance,
And I gave them into your hand;
but you showed them no mercy,
And upon old men
you laid a very heavy yoke.
You said, “I shall remain always,
a sovereign mistress forever!”
But you did not lay these things to heart,
you disregarded their outcome.
Now hear this, voluptuous one,
enthroned securely,
Saying to yourself,
“I, and no one else!
I shall never be a widow,
or suffer the loss of my children”–
Both these things shall come to you
suddenly, in a single day:
Complete bereavement and widowhood
shall come upon you
For your many sorceries
and the great number of your spells;
Because you felt secure in your wickedness,
and said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge
led you astray,
And you said to yourself,
“I, and no one else!”
But upon you shall come evil
you will not know how to predict;
Disaster shall befall you
which you cannot allay.
Suddenly there shall come upon you
ruin which you will not expect.
Keep up, now, your spells
and your many sorceries.
Perhaps you can make them avail,
perhaps you can strike terror!
You wearied yourself with many consultations,
at which you toiled from your youth;
Let the astrologers stand forth to save you,
the stargazers who forecast at each new moon
what would happen to you.
Lo, they are like stubble,
fire consumes them;
They cannot save themselves
from the spreading flames.
This is no warming ember,
no fire to sit before.
Thus do your wizards serve you
with whom you have toiled from your youth;
Each wanders his own way,
with none to save you.
That reminded me of the Psalm of Lamentation 137.
-By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
-We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
-For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
-How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
Select song lyrics:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
There the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Requiring of us a song
Now how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart
Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight
Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts
Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion
This is Orwellian doublethink. If Francis and his cohorts do not see this, they are delusional or incredibly ignorant. Or it may be that they are evil.
“Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.” CCC #675. Stay Catholic.
Once we see Jesus’ Matthew 24 sign for Jesus’ Second Coming, this trips another Apocalyptic event, which is Jesus’ Matthew 26:31 ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’
There is a slight difference in Jesus’ delivery in His apocalyptic quote from Zechariah. Zechariah’s prophecy states “strike the shepherd…” Jesus quotes it as, “I will strike the shepherd…”. USCCB Bible notes reference both Zechariah 13 and Matthew 24 “The Destruction of the Temple Foretold”, to Jesus’ Matthew 26:31 ‘I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’, quote. I think we are definitely at the Jesus striking the Shepard, Destruction of the Temple Foretold, stage of the Apocalypse.
Zechariah 13:7 Oracles Concerning the End of False Prophecy. The Song of the Sword.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the one who is my associate—oracle of the LORD of hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In all the land—oracle of the LORD—two thirds of them will be cut off and perish, and one third will be left. I will bring the one third through the fire; I will refine them as one refines silver, and I will test them as one tests gold. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them; I will say, “They are my people,” and they will say, “The LORD is my God.”
Matthew 26:31
‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’
USCCB NABRE Bible Note for Matthew 26:31
Will have…shaken: literally, “will be scandalized in me”; see note on Mt 24:9–12. I will strike…dispersed: cf. Zec 13:7.
Matthew 24 The Destruction of the Temple Foretold
USCCB NABRE Bible Note for Matthew 24:9-12
Matthew has used Mk 13:9–12 in his missionary discourse (Mt 10:17–21) and omits it here. Besides the sufferings, including death, and the hatred of all nations that the disciples will have to endure, there will be worse affliction within the church itself. This is described in Mt 24:10–12, which are peculiar to Matthew. Will be led into sin: literally, “will be scandalized,” probably meaning that they will become apostates; see Mt 13:21 where “fall away” translates the same Greek word as here. Betray: in the Greek this is the same word as the hand over of Mt 24:9. The handing over to persecution and hatred from outside will have their counterpart within the church. False prophets: these are Christians; see note on Mt 7:15–20. Evildoing: see Mt 7:23.
1) Has the Catholic Church learned nothing from the experiences of other Christian churches that have accommodated the LGBT agenda? Are any of these churches flourishing, gaining new members, nourishing spiritual life, elevating the culture?
2) This is a continuation of a drive that aims at an undermining and eventual overthrow of the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality. Even if the teaching stays on the books, it will be ignored in practice and further confuse the faithful.
3) Why does the Vatican refer to people in “irregular situations”? Call it what it is – living in sin. Jesus called a sin a sin and he taught such people to “sin no more.” A life of sin is a life away from God. It is destructive. It does not bring happiness or human fulfillment.
We can undoubtedly expect people such as Fr. Martin to run very, very far with this decision in ways not sanctioned by the actual document. And when that happens, their transgressions will be met with thunderous silence from the Vatican, although anyone sharing the views of most posters here will be denounced harshly in the manner we have come to expect from the current Pope.
The mess maker has been busy. And increasingly shows how opposed to God he is, because God created order out of chaos. No JB is returning us to chaos.
Be afraid of this man.
Without intending to be ridiculous, I would imagine that it’s possible to impose a blessing on a heap of cow dung. After all, the by-products of cows which are God’s creation is as worthy of a blessing as the cow itself.
There is in Hebrew scripture some reference to the Israelites being forced to offer animal sacrifice which had been burned with dung as fuel. I don’t remember where it is, but perhaps someone else knows. It’s applicable and appropriate to accompany this new roman-babylonian ‘rule’.
This is not the Roman Catholic faith.
‘ Within the horizon outlined here is the possibility of blessings of couples in irregular situations and of same-sex couples, the form of which should not find any ritual fixation on the part of ecclesial authorities, in order not to produce confusion with the blessing proper to the sacrament of marriage. ‘
– Fiducia Supplicans, 31
Anathema.
Can’t help but notice the parallels to clericalist incoherencies of, lo, centuries past:
In the days of GALILEO the controversy was whether the heavenly bodies were governed by the same laws as lowly planet earth (certainly not!). Today, the contradiction is whether homosexual couplings can be blessed and yet decoupled on paper from real “marriages.”
In the earlier decades COPERNICUS evaded censure because the Vatican had seen his work as only “hypothetical”—having read only the introduction penned by the Lutheran pastor, Osiander, who confected that Copernicus was no threat to the six-day universe. Today, on the prudential certainty of real-world fallout (a matter of some gravity!), Pope Francis listens synodally to his ghost writer and no one else.
Back to Galileo; by one account he was punished not so much because of papal humiliation under Galileo’s defensive essay featuring “SCIPIO” as a sort of village idiot (which was read to represent the pope), but because the pope (Urban VIII) was losing control and prestige under the Thirty Years War. And, needed to show that he was still in charge. So, the pope kicked the dog. And today? Bishop Strickland and Cardinal Burke? (For the record, Galileo was never excommunicated from the Church; rather, Kepler was excommunicated from the Lutheran ecclesial communion.)
TODAY, The blessing of homosexual couplings—rather than more precisely blessing the individuals involved?—what is one say to these couplings, with rings prominently on their fingers, they publicly approach the Eucharist? The slippery-slope from “spontaneous” and very circumscribed blessings into a parallel universe where subjective decisions trump objective moral judgments and sacramental theology, both.
Were yours truly ever recruited to sign up as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, the words of ST. THOMAS MORE would come to mind: “Some men think the Earth is round, others think it flat; it is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King’s command make it round? And if it is round, will the King’s command flatten it? No, I will not sign (Robert Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons”). A reluctance not so much because of the nuanced declaration of a Ptolemaic universe (!), but mostly because of the foreseeable fallout (gravity!) from triumphalist gaiety and the inevitable confusion marketed by the media!
Unlike Cardinal Fernandez, Cardinal Bellarmine at least looked through the telescope! But who am I to judge?
Perhaps a reasonable solution to a complex problem, but the real danger is the same as the mis application following Vatican II. If you open a window a crack soon all the putrid air will come in. I can only imagine what some of the Germans will do with this. The secular press has already misunderstood it. The pillow has been burst and the feathers will fly! God help us.
CWR has routinely suppressed comments that question whether Bergoglio is pope or refer to him as a heretic or apostate. What is the position of CWR now? Is Bergoglio a heretic? Is Bergoglio an apostate? Is Bergoglio pope?
There is a difference between blessing an individual in general terms, who happens to be in an unknown state of sin, and blessing 2 people as a couple (though the document doesn’t limit the group to 2 people). Going from tolerance to dignity to clerical blessing seems a significant change. Also the equation of same-sex couples with divorced and remarried Catholics seems incongruous, since the latter have the hope of an annulment or other circumstance that could allow them to eventually enter into Sacramental marriage, whereas same-sex couples do not. This is confusing on many other levels.
Yes, even polygamists can have hope of Sacramental marriage in the event one or more wives in the relationship die.
The following article by Fr. Weinandy should be of interest to many here:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/12/19/gods-blessings-and-magisterial-teaching/
The Dicastery of Overweening Prelates has once again poured more fuel on the fire of confusion.
The “smoke” from this fire reveals a level of pride and arrogance from the Vatican that can not be denied.
Let us pray for the soul of the Catholic Church to return.
Here’s the AP story which treats the new policy exactly as commentators above expect:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pope-s-approval-of-gay-blessings-could-have-impact-where-rights-are-restricted-lgbtq-advocates-say/ar-AA1lJUhq?cvid=784d89636d764aef8071e8a8a19f8a1a&ei=10
Why this posture of the Church nowadays. So many nuances and innuendos. It disturbs some of us. Why do we want to tamper with everything Catholic or Christian just to suit some current worldly sentiments. The Church should be forthright with precision and clarity when it comes to its teachings no matter the kind of recipients. If we are not careful, groups of all kinds(pedophiles, sodomites, armed robbers, serial murderers etc.)çan come up seeking the blessings of the church.We should be very careful.No should be NO and YES should be YES, beyond that it is evil, giving room for doubts and like a trojan horse enslave all of us.This LGBTQI+ movement should not be entertained and accommodated.Yes we all sin, yet through penance and firm purpose of amendment,God can extend his merciful gaze on all of us if we sincerely repent. Yes, God’s mercy does not give away God’s justice. Justice and mercy work together. God is so merciful that man takes His mercy for indulgence. Are we to condone sin? Are we to preach only mercy without any teaching about sin and its effects? No more talk about sin and its horror? Is it about living in a state of sin without repentance and amendment of life, without God and at the same time expecting and receiving pardon, blessing, compassion and mercy from God and His Church? Is that even possible? Is mercy the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, or there is something more to it? Is it about whitewashing of sin? Is it about setting aside and watering down the teachings of Christ and His Church in expediency of a particular sinful situation or human respect? Is it about remaining in sin and pampered with mercy, in the end like placebo (which does not remit sin), without reform and amendment in any sinful situation? Is it forgiveness, compassion, overlooking sins or closing the eyes to the obvious; leniency, kindness, not judging and rebuking, not being firm about faith and morals, not pointing sinful acts, no distinction between good and evil, doing away with the criterion to distinguish between good and evil, no absolute moral norms, no sin in the world, no guilt, no naming, non-mentioning and non-labeling of sin, non-existence of sin and evil, no judging of sin, indifference towards sin, tolerate sin, no admonishing of the sinner or people living in sin, false broad-mindedness, free-thinking, make whichever choice, think anyhow, anything and any behaviour goes, carefree and careless of attitude, going with the flow, promote sin, approval of sinfulness, accommodate sinfulness and integrate sin?; neglect or no application of commandments, laws, rules and disciplines whether it is from God or His Church, believe in whatever you want, do whatever pleases you, etc? What is mercy and what calls for mercy? Are we trying to live 1 Cor.9:19-23 (‘….I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some…’) without the truths that Christ and His Church and St. Paul stood for and stand for? Or are we trying to welcome everybody, for the sake of peace and co-existence (see 2 Corinthians 13:11, Romans 12:18-21, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 3:8-12) in the Church and in the world by approving error and sin, without the plain and pristine eternal truths of God? Have we forgotten about the radical committed love choice that we are to make-between God, the Creator and the creature (see Matthew 10:37-39)? Is it about God or about Man? Is it about the error of ‘love thy neighbour’ without God? Is God at the centre or man at the centre? Where from this great battle and struggle against God and His Church?
“….Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.” (Romans 1:18-32).
The Catholic church has been infiltrated with liberals. It appears the screening was nonexistent for decades?
Sometimes a passage from literature really seems to vividly express the essence and substance of a real life situation. Today I think of these lines from Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear”:
KING LEAR:
Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones!
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack…Lend me a looking glass.
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
KENT:
Is this the promised end?
EDGAR:
Or image of that horror?
What happens when a homosexual couple shows up for a blessing alongg with their adopted “son”? Do they all get a blessing for “encouragement”? When the boy grows up, what will he think of the priest (and he Church) who gave it?
Why couldn’t the Catholic Church learn from the Protestants and Anglicans who started this 20 years ago? Now, their parishes have emptied, donations have dried up and most will be extinct within a decade. Inclusion doesn’t attract new members, it repels old ones.
Blessing romantic relationships that ipso facto deny the Sanctity of the marital act within the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony and God’s intention for Marriage and The Family, and thus cannot be reconciled to Christ, would be promoting behavior in a relationship that is devoid of affirming authentic Life-affirming and Life-sustaining Love and thus denies the very essence of a Blessing.
The document is explicit that the disordered relationship is not affirmed. There is no “blessing” of same-sex relationships.
The point critics are making is that Bergoglio and his sidekick in the DDF are asserting a contradiction by permitting an Illegitimate pastoral practice to undermine settled teaching. It’s like saying, “Of course drunk driving is wrong” and then giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
exactly
Bob, The Soul Of The Catholic Church has never left, and in fact remains with Christ’s Church, Through The Deposit Of Faith , which Christ Has Entrusted To His Church, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and The Teaching Of The Magisterium ,grounded in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.
We have not been left orphans, although it appears as if Christ’s Church is in Eclipse, and the darkness is engulfing the entire world, we must continue to make disciples of all Nations!
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
Do these guys really believe this?
I mean, why are you blessing “a couple” then – if you are not blessing the homosexual union? Wouldn’t you just bless the individuals then – which was always available anyway? So why the need for the change?
The Lavender Mafia in the RCC knows this is one more step towards where mainstream Protestantism got 50 years ago. That’s why they are celebrating – they see the writing on the wall.
Gay Cardinal Couples will be voting for a Gay Pope and his boy-toy by 2073.
Bet on it. This is not the finish line. Not by a long shot.
1. It seems like a momentous event like this Fiducia Supplicans document should cause conservative Catholics, who adhered to the teachings of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, to come together and issue a joint statement that the teachings of this Fiducia Supplicans document are false doctrine which cannot and will not be accepted as legitimate by faithful Catholics, and which will not be permitted in dioceses and parishes led by faithful bishops and priests.
2. I.e., it seems like a firm “No!” ought now to be given, at last, to this flagrant crossing of clear red line.
3. But, from what I can see, nothing like that is happening.
4. Rather, I see the whole Church just caving in.
Initiate that suggestion in #1 and I’ll add my name to it.
Once two people in an immoral coupling (aka relationship) present themselves as an immoral couple and ask for a blessing as an immoral couple, the bestowing of such a blessing on the immoral couple is itself immoral and unequivocally a violation of Church teaching on sin and how to confront it.
It also does not matter if a document that approves of such blessings includes correct teachings on anything else and makes claims that the blessings do not undermine or change Church teaching on anything else. Such a blessing in and of itself is simply wrong and should never be bestowed, and the document that approves of such wrongful behavior is illegitimate (at least in this respect) and can and should be legitimately rejected by all faithful Catholics. As the greatest Church theologian taught us many years ago, Error Has No Rights.
To all those here inclined to think that Pope Francis is the worst of the bad popes. Think again. Think deeper. Pray for him. No pope can beat the first as the worst pope. Peter denied knowing Jesus or that he was a disciple, not just once but three times (John 18:15-18,25-27) and yet the Lord affirmed him in his office (John 21:15-19).
Oh, please… Yours is the most ridiculous comment I have read in a very long time. We know how the story of Peter ended. St. Peter was martyred for his Faith in the living Christ. No one is ever going to martyr Bergoglio for his faith in the U.N., one world government, eco-socialism, pantheism, and homoeroticism.
Touché Timothy.
The Church’s understanding of doctrine has developed since Peter’s denials. Plus St. Peter recanted, repented, and submitted to rebuke and correction under Paul.
“Pope” Francis is not the worst by a Longshot. No one is actually claiming that. But a homosexualist pope who actively, intentionally, and maliciously distorts truth, denies biblical teaching on sexuality, and misleads those he is called to guide is certainly reprehensible. Your defense of him is equally so.
Anyone who has been paying attention the last ten years has to understand that this is an attempt to bring in blessings {and eventually acceptance} of same sex unions. They are doing it with a wink and a nod but they are doing it. Please tell me again of the blessing God sent to Sodom and Gomorrah.
People, Look East. Isn’t that a hymn around this time?
(Catholic Herald, Dec. 19)
Beyond what we are all concerned about today, the “blessing” of homosexual unions, maybe more importantly this document, this event, pours the raking light upon the entire post-conciliar epoch. How ever did we get here? What have we become? It lifts the mirror and what do we see? A fraudulent mercy, a deception of gravely sinful dimension. An episcopate which has lost its faith and fortitude — a fraternity of men desperate for credence from atheistic secularists. Undoubtedly we will see other moral issues stepped on in the not so distant future — abortion surely is already getting the demythologizing once over as mourn the spinelessness of those we once looked to for moral and spiritual guidance.
The inherent error is in the existence of the “proclamation” itself. Recall well Pope Francis’ admonition to Archbishop Forte in regard Amoris Latitia and Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried without benefit of a canonical annulment: “…not too directly or it will make a mess. We’ll clarify it later…”
Double talk. And double talk from the Bergoglian apologists as well. All of us ignorant groundlings are familiar with this game. We don’t expect it from the papacy and we find it unacceptable.
You could not undermine the authority of the Chair of St. Peter more if you took a buzz saw to it. Is that the ultimate intention? Given the recent synod it is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
Well, yes. Undermining the authority of the Church is a real goal. You can’t build a global secular society without doing that.
The Church and the Family stand in the way.
You can bless the persons without including the lifestyle? That’s horribly naive. Since at least the Obama years, they ARE their act. There is no distinction anymore.
An absolute
Complete
Total
Unmitigated
Ecclesial Chernobyl.
Chernobyl is an appropriate comparison. So are: 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
Simply put, a blessing is the invocation of God’s grace on a specific reality. That reality can be a person or persons, a place or a thing, e.g., a crucifix, a house, etc.
The understanding (Traditional) has been that the one giving the blessing:
A) has received the grace, therefore, the authority to pronounce and grant said blessing, and
B) within our Christian context, all such blessings are granted in conformity to the Holy will of God.
From time immemorial, (Genesis), God has left absolutely no ambiguity that homosexuality, in His eyes, is nothing less than an abomination worthy of the most serious punishment.
Even should PF, as the vicar of Christ, choose to bless something contrary to item B, above, then no actual blessing takes place.
In other words, blessing a homosexual union has no more spiritual efficacy than baptizing a cat, or ordaining a woman.
So, brothers and sisters, see this for the farcical folly that it is, and simply choose to remain close to God.
Regarding the Pontiff Francis, and his “rotating doctrinal pitcher” Eminence Fernandez, these two men have, not “the mind of Christ,” but “the mind of McCarrick.”
It’s a moral and spiritual declaration, a “different gospel.”
In light of this new document, isn’t an apology in order for Cardinal McCarrick? Shouldn’t he receive a blessing ceremony, not an ecclesiastical punishment?
Is he not exalted, praised, glorified, and adored?
A witty and apt observation…thank you.
Is one not brought to tears at Holy Mother Church bringing the birth of her first fruit, her first born child into focus at this time this year?
He was neither blessed nor conceived by sterile couples. Born in a stable, He was surrounded by dung. Such does not hurt Him. Rather, the people of the entire world and within the Church shall suffer the effects of our choosing to have dung in its places and on its people. Choosing or allowing dung to cling to us signifies nothing except our being fit for eternal fire.
Eric Samman at Crisis Magazine says that Pope Francis is a gift to the Church. This latest pronouncement is an undeniable clarification of this pontificate. In that sense, it is a blessing.
Odd that you would highlight such a notion which I could not determine in a quick reading. What I took home from Sammans’ contribution is:
“Yet when people choose to be in irregular or same-sex relationships, they are in fact choosing a path of self over the denial of self. To bless that disordered path is to pretend to give God’s blessing on a path away from Him. This the Church has never done, and the Church cannot do, no matter what Cardinal Fernández or even Pope Francis might say.” And…
“Some Catholics might feel compelled to defend yesterday’s DDF document out of some misguided sense of defending the Church or the papacy. However, to do so actually undermines the very Church and papacy you seek to defend. Instead defend the perennial teachings of the Church regarding marriage, which Fiducia Supplicans gives lip service to, but ultimately rejects.”
THIS IS A ST. THOMAS MORE MOMENT
1. Who, with a position of influence in the Church, will remain firm and stand up to the ungodly, heretical, schismatic leader and his gang?
2. And who will just “go along to get along,” accepting assurances that are ridiculous and absurd on their face?
3. This is a time for God-loving, peace-loving, and truth-loving Catholic martyrs. St. Maximillian Kolbe comes to mind.
4. This a “High Noon” (1952) moment. (Gary Cooper as a retired marshal, in a town in the Old West, who must face an evil killer gang alone at noon, while his pacifist wife and the townspeople abandon him to his fate.)
5. This is a time for saints, for heroes, for men of integrity, for men with backbone, for men who are willing to sacrifice worldly comfort and reputution for the salvation of their families and the whole of the Faithful.
6. The prayers of cowards and weaklings are never answered, according to some saint I read about.
Bergoglio = Palpatine
1. “O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”
(Hamlet, speaking in “Hamlet,” Act 1, Scene 5, referring to his charming, eloquent, smooth talking uncle and now king, who secretly murdered his father, the rightful king.)
2. “The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite
That ever I was born to set it right!”
(Hamlet, speaking in “Hamlet,” Act 1, Scene 5, referring to the reign of dire corruption in the monarchy, and also referring to his reluctance to do his duty to try to set things right.)
Some thoughts:
1. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/01/16/ecclesial-reception-in-the-era-of-francis/
2. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2016/07/03/12-thoughts-on-the-papacy-and-life-in-the-church-today/
3. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/fuzzy-reception