Pope Francis suggested there could be ways to bless same-sex unions, responding to five conservative cardinals who challenged him to reaffirm the Church’s teachings on homosexuality before a major gathering where LGBTQ+ Catholics are on the agenda .
The Vatican published this Monday a letter that Francis wrote to the cardinals on July 11, after receiving one of them the day before with a list of five questions.
In the missive, Pope Francis suggests that blessings could be studied if the blessing were not confused with a sacramental marriage.
New Ways MInistry, an advocacy and justice ministry for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics, said the letter “significantly advances” efforts to reach out to Catholics.
LGBTQ+ are welcome in the Church and it is “a big drop in the water” of their marginalization.
The Vatican defends that marriage is an inseparable bond between a man and a woman. That is why it has been against gay marriage for a long time.
But even Pope Francis has expressed support for civil laws granting legal benefits to same-sex spouses, and Catholic priests in some parts of Europe have blessed same-sex unions without Vatican censure.
Francis’ response to the cardinals marks a reversal of the Vatican’s current official position. In a 2021 explanatory note, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated categorically that the Church could not bless homosexual unions because “God cannot bless sin.”
In his new letter, Francis reiterated that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. But in response to the cardinals’ question about homosexual unions and blessings, he said that “pastoral charity” requires patience and understanding and that priests nevertheless cannot become judges “who only deny, reject and exclude.”
“For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more people, that do not convey an erroneous conception of marriage”He wrote.
“For when you ask for a blessing, you express a request for help from God, a plea to live better, a trust in a father who can help you live better”he emphasized.
Noting that there are situations that are “morally unacceptable,” the Pope believes that the same “pastoral charity” requires treating people as sinners who may not be entirely responsible for their situation.
Francis added that there is no need for dioceses or bishops’ conferences to translate this pastoral charity into fixed norms or protocols, saying the issue can be addressed on a case-by-case basis. “because the life of the Church works in channels that go beyond norms”.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, welcomed the pope’s opening.
“The authority for pastoral ministers to bless same-sex couples means that the Church in fact recognizes that sacred love can exist between same-sex couples and that the love of these couples reflects the love of God”he said in a statement.
“These recognitions, while not quite what LGBTQ+ Catholics would want, are a huge step forward toward fuller and more inclusive equality.”
The five cardinals, all conservative prelates from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, challenged Francis to reaffirm the Church’s teaching on gays, the ordination of women, the authority of the pope and other issues in his letter.
They published the material two days before the start of an important three-week synod in the Vatican, where LGBTQ+ Catholics and their place in the Church are on the agenda.
The signatories are some of Francis’ most outspoken critics, all Reformed and belonging to the more doctrinaire generation of cardinals appointed by John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI.
Cardinals Walter Brandmueller of Germany, former Vatican historian, Raymond Burke of the United States, appointed by Francis to head the Vatican Supreme Court, Juan Sandoval of Mexico, retired Archbishop of Guadalajara, Robert Sarah of Guinea, retired head of the Vatican Liturgy Office, and Joseph Zen, retired Archbishop of Hong Kong.
Brandmueller and Burke were among four signatories of an earlier round of questions (“dubious”) addressed to Francis in 2016, after his controversial opening to allow divorced and civilly remarried couples to receive communion. At the time, cardinals were concerned that Francis’ position conflicted with Church teachings on the indissolubility of marriage. Francisco never answered their questions and two of his co-signers died.
This time Francisco actually responded.
The cardinals did not publish their answer, but apparently found it so unsatisfactory that they reformulated their five questions, resubmitted them to Francis and asked him to simply answer yes or no. When the Pope did not respond, the cardinals decided to make the texts public and send a “notice” to the faithful.
The Vatican’s doctrine office published its response a few hours later, though without the preamble it called on cardinals not to fear the synod.
Source: DN
