2024-01-04 13:53:59
The Vatican has responded to widespread criticism of the new declaration of principles on the blessing of unmarried and homosexual couples in the Catholic Church, published shortly before Christmas. On Thursday, the relevant religious authority published a “Notice on the reception of the declaration ‘Fiducia supplicans’ (The supplicating trust)”. In the press release, the Vatican’s highest guardian of the faith, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, makes it clear that there may be different ways and earlier or later times of application depending on the church context and local culture. However, a “total or final denial of this path presented to the priests” is not permitted.
This also applies to the “quite a few countries” in which homosexuality is condemned, banned and criminalized to varying degrees. There, however, the cultural and legal difficulties required time and pastoral strategies that went beyond the short-term. “In these cases, beyond the question of blessings, a great and far-reaching pastoral mission arises, which includes formation, the defense of human dignity, the teaching of the social doctrine of the Church and various strategies that, on their part, do not allow for haste,” Fernandez said in his Notice. Bishops’ conferences in such contexts should “consider the need for further study and further discernment in order to act with pastoral wisdom in such a context.” The declaration of principles on blessings triggered a mixed response within the church. It met with massive rejection, particularly in Africa and Eastern Europe, but also in parts of Latin America.
Cardinal Fernandez emphasized once more that “Fiducia supplicans” expresses itself in a “classic way” regarding marriage and sexuality. The statement remains firmly committed to the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage and does not allow for any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to it that might cause confusion. Several “strong formulations” demonstrated that the declaration does not provide a framework “for distancing oneself from it doctrinally or viewing it as heretical, contrary to church tradition or blasphemous.”
What is actually new in the declaration is not the possibility of blessing couples in “irregular relationships,” said the Prefect of the Faith. Rather, it is regarding expanding and enriching the classic understanding of blessings – by distinguishing between two different forms of blessing, namely the “liturgical or ritual” and the more “spontaneous or pastorally motivated”. That is why “Fiducia supplicans” proposes to carry out more “blessings in the sense of pastoral care” that do not require the same conditions as blessings in a liturgical or ritual context.
Short blessing, without ritual
Fernandez also addresses questions regarding the practical implementation of these “blessings of pastoral care”. These are likely to be very short – Fernandez writes of 10 or 15 seconds – and not take any ritual form. They should never be issued in direct connection with, for example, a civil ceremony and in clothing, with gestures and words that express a marriage. Nor should they take place in an important place in the church building or in front of the altar, as this would cause confusion.
“For this reason, every bishop in his diocese is authorized by the declaration Fiducia supplicans to give this type of simple blessing, accompanied by all recommendations of caution and care, but in no way is he authorized to propose or give blessings that are of a liturgical celebration might be similar,” says Cardinal Fernandez.
“When two people approach together to ask for a blessing, one simply asks the Lord for peace, health and other goods for those two people who ask him,” explains the guardian of the faith. “At the same time, we pray that they may live the Gospel of Christ in full fidelity and that the Holy Spirit may free these two persons from everything that does not correspond to his divine will and everything that needs purification.”
“Answer to a request for God’s help”
The blessings are simply “a shepherd’s response to two people’s requests for God’s help,” said Fernandez. For this reason, a priest is not allowed to impose any conditions, nor should he find out anything regarding the intimate lives of these people.
The purpose of these blessings would have to be explained to the people in the local churches. “We will all have to get used to accepting the fact that a priest who gives these types of simple blessings is not a heretic, is not ratifying anything and is not denying Catholic teaching,” Fernandez said. “If this is made clear through good catechesis, we can free ourselves from the fear that our blessings may express something inadequate. We can be freer and perhaps more fruitful servants in greater proximity, with a service marked by fatherly gestures of pastoral closeness and without Fear of being misunderstood.”
Wording of the press release from the Dicastery of Faith in the official German translation:
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