A priest in Chicago has apologized for the controversial way in which he blessed a same-sex couple in April, calling it a “very poor decision” that violated Catholic Church’s new guidelines.
In a statement dated May 8, Father Joseph Williams, the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish near downtown Chicago, offered an apology in which the priest said he “regrets the language of the blessing and the use of vestments and the church itself, which he now recognizes were a violation of the norms approved by the Church.”
The priest blessed a same-sex couple in the city parish in April. In a video of the event posted to social media, Williams — wearing priestly vestments — can be seen asking the couple if they “freely recommit yourselves to love each other as holy spouses and to live in peace and harmony together forever.” The two women respond, “I do.”
Williams in the video asks God to “increase and consecrate the love” the two women have for each other, stating that the “rings that they have exchanged are the sign of their fidelity and commitment.”
The priest had initially suggested that the Vatican’s December 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans allows the type of blessing he administered in April. That document said that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations and without making the blessing seem like a wedding.
The way in which he conducted the blessing “came about due to my attempt to provide for them a meaningful moment of God’s grace,” the pastor said in the statement.
“I wanted to do it well,” he said. “A week or so after the fact, I viewed the video. I immediately realized that I had made a very poor decision in the words and visuals captured on the video.”
The controversy “has been a valuable learning experience” for the priest, the statement said.
“I am deeply sorry for any confusion and/or anger that this has caused, particularly for the people of God,” Williams said.
The statement was issued by the Congregation of the Mission, also called the Vincentians, who administer the downtown Chicago parish.
The Archdiocese of Chicago did not immediately respond to an emailed query on Tuesday morning.
Fiducia Supplicans generated global controversy after it was announced on Dec. 18, with bishops around the world either declaring their support for it or stating their intention not to implement it.
The Vatican declaration, 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.
“The Church’s doctrine on this point remains firm,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said when the document was released.
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Pope Francis opens the Holy Door in L’Aquila, Italy on Aug. 28, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 28, 2022 / 04:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis became the first pope in 728 years to open the Holy Door of a 13th-century basilica in L’Aquila, Italy on Sunday.
During a visit to the Italian city located about 70 miles northeast of Rome on Aug. 28, the pope participated in a centuries-old tradition, the Celestinian Forgiveness, known in Italian as the Perdonanza Celestiniana.
The opening of the Holy Door marked a key moment in the annual celebration established by Pope Celestine V in 1294.
“For centuries L’Aquila has kept alive the gift that Pope Celestine V left it. It is the privilege of reminding everyone that with mercy, and only with it, the life of every man and woman can be lived with joy,” Pope Francis said in his homily during Mass at L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.
“To be forgiven is to experience here and now what comes closest to the resurrection. Forgiveness is passing from death to life, from the experience of anguish and guilt to that of freedom and joy. May this church always be a place where we can be reconciled, and experience that grace that puts us back on our feet and gives us another chance,” he said.
Pope Francis began the day trip at 7:50 a.m. traveling by helicopter from the Vatican to L’Aquila. He visited the city’s cathedral, which is still being rebuilt after it was badly damaged during a 2019 earthquake in which more than 300 people died.
The pope wore a hard hat while touring the reconstruction area of the damaged church. He spoke to family members of earthquake victims in the town square in front of the cathedral, where local prisoners were also present in the crowd. People cheered and waved Vatican flags as Pope Francis greeted them from a wheelchair.
Pope Francis wore a hard hat while visiting the L’Aquila cathedral, which was damaged by a 2019 earthquake. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said: “First of all I thank you for your witness of faith: despite the pain and loss, which belong to our faith as pilgrims, you have fixed your gaze on Christ, crucified and risen, who with his love redeemed the nonsense of pain and death.”
“And Jesus has placed you back in the arms of the Father, who does not let a tear fall in vain, not even one, but gathers them all in his merciful heart,” he added.
After speaking to the families of the victims, Pope Francis traveled in the popemobile to L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, where he celebrated an outdoor Mass, recited the Angelus, and opened the Holy Door.
In his brief Angelus message, the pope offered a prayer for the people of Pakistan, where flash floods have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced thousands more.
Pope Francis also asked for the intercession of the Virgin Mary to obtain “forgiveness and peace for the whole world,” mentioning Ukraine and all other places suffering from war.
Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L’Aquila, Italy. Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L’Aquila, Italy.
During his visit to L’Aquila, the pope said that he wanted the central Italian city to become a “capital of forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation.”
“This is how peace is built through forgiveness received and given,” he said.
L’Aquila is the burial place of Pope Celestine V, who led the Catholic Church for just five months before his resignation on Dec. 13, 1294. The pope, who was canonized in 1313, is buried in L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.
In the spring, the Vatican’s announcement that Pope Francis would visit L’Aquila prompted unsourced speculation that the trip could be the prelude to the 85-year-old pope’s resignation.
When Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years in 2013, Vatican-watchers recalled that he had visited the tomb of Celestine V years earlier. During his trip on April 28, 2009, he left his pallium — the white wool vestment given to metropolitan archbishops — on the tomb. In hindsight, commentators suggested that Benedict was indicating his intention to resign.
In his homily in L’Aquila, Pope Francis praised Pope Celestine V for his humility and courage.
Mentioning Dante Alighieri’s description of Celestine as the man of “the great refusal,” Pope Francis underlined that Celestine should not be remembered as a man of “no” — for resigning the papacy — but as a man of “yes.”
Pope Francis said: “Indeed, there is no other way to accomplish God’s will than by assuming the strength of the humble, there is no other way. Precisely because they are so, the humble appear weak and losers in the eyes of men, but in reality they are the true winners, for they are the only ones who trust completely in the Lord and know his will.”
At the end of the Mass, the crowd prayed the Litany of Saints and watched as Pope Francis made history when he opened the basilica’s Holy Door. According to Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi of L’Aquila, Pope Francis is the first pope to open the Holy Door in 728 years.
Visiting cardinals have opened the Holy Door for the Celestinian Forgiveness in past years, after a reading of the bull of forgiveness by the local mayor. Celestine donated the papal bull to L’Aquila, where it is kept in an armored chapel in the tower of the town hall.
The bull of forgiveness drawn up by Celestine V offered a plenary indulgence to all who, having confessed and repented of their sins, go to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio from Vespers on Aug. 28 to sunset on Aug. 29. A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary, and all the saints to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
Celestine’s indulgence was exceptional at the time, given it was available to anyone, regardless of status or wealth, and cost nothing except personal repentance at a time when indulgences were often tied to almsgiving.
Pope Francis prays at the tomb of Pope Celestine V in L’Aquila, Italy. Vatican Media
After opening the Holy Door, Pope Francis was wheeled through the basilica to the tomb of Pope Celestine V, where he spent a moment in silent prayer before the relics of his papal predecessor who was declared a saint in 1313.
“In the spirit of the world, which is dominated by pride, today’s Word of God invites us to be humble and meek. Humility does not consist in the devaluation of self, but rather in that healthy realism that makes us recognize our potential and also our miseries,” Pope Francis said.
“Starting precisely from our miseries, humility causes us to look away from ourselves and turn our gaze to God, the One who can do everything and also obtains for us what we cannot have on our own. ‘Everything is possible for those who believe (Mark 9:23).'”
Pope Francis speaks to Archbishop William Seng Chye Goh (left) after he elevated him to cardinal during a consistory to create 20 new cardinals on Aug. 27, 2022, at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Alberto Pizzoli
British media executive Sir Nicholas Coleridge, journalist Fraser Nelson, classical pianist Dame Mitsuko Uchida, author Tom Holland, and human rights advocate Bianca Jagger in a July 2, 2024, letter in the London newspaper The Times called upon the Holy See to preserve what they describe as the “magnificent” cultural artifact of the Catholic Church’s Traditional Latin Mass. / Credit: ANDREW MATTHEWS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Spectator Life; Ian Nicholson/WPA Pool/Getty Images; David Levenson/Getty Images; and Dave Benett/Getty Images for Harry’s Bar
CNA Staff, Jul 3, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).
A distinguished cadre of British public figures is calling upon the Holy See to preserve what they describe as the “magnificent” cultural artifact of the Catholic Church’s Traditional Latin Mass.
In 2021 Pope Francis placed sweeping restrictions on the celebration of Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal, known also as the extraordinary form of the Roman rite and the Tridentine Mass. Rumors have circulated in recent months that the Vatican is preparing to clamp down further on the celebration of that ancient liturgy.
No new directives on the Latin Mass have yet been promulgated amid the rumors. In a Tuesday letter to the London newspaper the Times, meanwhile, a wide cross-section of English cultural fixtures openly implored the Vatican to refrain from restricting the rite further.
“Recently there have been worrying reports from Rome that the Latin Mass is to be banished from nearly every Catholic church,” the letter said. “This is a painful and confusing prospect, especially for the growing number of young Catholics whose faith has been nurtured by it.”
The signatories, which included actress and human rights advocate Bianca Jagger, author Tom Holland, musical eminence Julian Lloyd Webber, and media executive Sir Nicholas Coleridge, described the Latin Mass as a “cathedral” of “text and gesture” that developed over many centuries.
“Not everyone appreciates its value and that is fine,” the writers said, “but to destroy it seems an unnecessary and insensitive act in a world where history can all too easily slip away forgotten.”
“The old rite’s ability to encourage silence and contemplation is a treasure not easily replicated, and, when gone, impossible to reconstruct,” they said.
The writers in their letter pointed to a 1971 petition from a similar cross-section of prominent Britons that had also asked the Vatican to preserve the Latin Mass in England.
That petition led to the “Agatha Christie indult” allowing the extraordinary form to continue there; the indult was named after the famous author who was among the signatories.
In their letter this week the British celebrities said their petition, like the 1971 request, was “entirely ecumenical and nonpolitical.”
“The signatories include Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers,” they wrote. “We implore the Holy See to reconsider any further restriction of access to this magnificent spiritual and cultural heritage.”
In issuing the 2021 guidelines, the pope had said he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was now characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms.
To doubt the council, he said at the time, is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”
Is there anyone of you who takes this ‘apology’ seriously, meaning that this ‘Priest’ knew EXACTLY what he was doing and what the consequences would be BEFORE he did it and had the ‘apology’ ready to go? If so please raise your hand.
It actually sounds like someone with a backbone took Father aside for a major talking-to.Likely he was told he needed to disavow what he had done or he would be removed as a priest. As well they should have. WE need MORE church leaders with such a backbone. He called them “spouses” and blessed their rings??? He wore vestments? Yet he couldn’t figure out how that would appear? Really?? A kid in grammar school would understand that was forbidden. I am dubious that “Gods grace” is extended to those living in mortal sin, unless they sincerely repent.
The Pope has done the church no favors with this pronouncement, he has only sown more discord. One cannot compromise with the truth. Couples who persist in these sorts of relationships need to understand they have put themselves outside the teachings of the church. They should stop trying to seek a way to force the church grant legitimacy to their behavior.
I would think that any apology would need to include a correct statement of the Church’s teaching on marriage (that it can only occur between a man and a woman) and homosexual acts (that they are gravely sinful even in a committed relationship) and his agreement with these teachings. Perhaps we didn’t get the whole thing?
Without that it comes off as a “I’m sorry that you were offended” “apology”.
Is there anyone of you who takes this ‘apology’ seriously, meaning that this ‘Priest’ knew EXACTLY what he was doing and what the consequences would be BEFORE he did it and had the ‘apology’ ready to go? If so please raise your hand.
You in the 3rd row – you believe it?
You need to go to the restroom? Go ahead.
Anyone else?
No one?
I thought so.
Maybe he overstated himself. It’s hard to create guidelines in a gray area. There’s no need to apologize for practicing what FS authorizes.
It actually sounds like someone with a backbone took Father aside for a major talking-to.Likely he was told he needed to disavow what he had done or he would be removed as a priest. As well they should have. WE need MORE church leaders with such a backbone. He called them “spouses” and blessed their rings??? He wore vestments? Yet he couldn’t figure out how that would appear? Really?? A kid in grammar school would understand that was forbidden. I am dubious that “Gods grace” is extended to those living in mortal sin, unless they sincerely repent.
The Pope has done the church no favors with this pronouncement, he has only sown more discord. One cannot compromise with the truth. Couples who persist in these sorts of relationships need to understand they have put themselves outside the teachings of the church. They should stop trying to seek a way to force the church grant legitimacy to their behavior.
Thank you, well written.
Hard to take this guy seriously.
I would think that any apology would need to include a correct statement of the Church’s teaching on marriage (that it can only occur between a man and a woman) and homosexual acts (that they are gravely sinful even in a committed relationship) and his agreement with these teachings. Perhaps we didn’t get the whole thing?
Without that it comes off as a “I’m sorry that you were offended” “apology”.