2023-12-18 14:30:59
Pope Francis has paved the way for the blessing of gay couples in the Catholic Church under certain conditions. This emerges from a letter that the Vatican published in Rome on Monday. According to the official German translation, it talks regarding the “possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples”.
The statement, called “Fiducia supplicans,” was published by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. As head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis had previously approved her. It goes on to say that, under certain conditions, a blessing “can be given to all without asking for anything.” Such blessings are “directed to everyone, no one should be excluded.”
However, it is also expressly emphasized that such a blessing may not be ritually determined by the church authorities “in order not to cause confusion with the blessing inherent in the sacrament of marriage.” The declaration also reiterates that sexual relationships are only considered permitted within marriage between a man and a woman.
Francis had already made it clear in a letter in the fall that he did not fundamentally reject blessings for homosexual couples. It was said at the time that anyone who asked for a blessing was trusting in God to ask for God’s help in order to be able to live better. One must therefore assess whether there can be forms of blessing without conveying a false idea of marriage. However, the Pope rejected official regulations on this by dioceses or bishops’ conferences. Marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
In Germany, blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples are already practiced in many communities, but they take place in a gray area under canon law. The Vatican made it clear in 2021 that it was “not permitted” to bless homosexual partnerships because such relationships “cannot be recognized as objectively aligned with God’s revealed plans.”
The approval of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples was a main demand for the German Synodal Path reform process and was decided by the Synodal Assembly in March.
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