REFLECTIONS ON RECENT VATICAN DECLARATION
Part 2
Last week, I provided you with a summary of the recent Vatican declaration entitled Fiducia Supplicans in response to questions that had been raised over the past several years regarding same-sex couples. As you read this summary, you will recall that it ended with: “beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.” It sounded as if the Vatican’s Office for the Doctrine of the Faith expected that it had provided sufficient instruction and guidance in this matter.
As you have probably read or heard yourself, however, that was not the case. After receiving countless questions, concerns and disagreements from Catholics around the world and declarations from several Episcopal Conferences (i.e., conferences of bishops from entire countries including Great Britain and several countries in Africa) that they would not implement the instructions given in this declaration, Cardinal Víctor Fernández, the prefect of this Vatican office, published a lengthy press release to clarify the intent and scope of Fiducia Supplicans. As I did with the original declaration, I have carefully and prayerfully read this press release. Although it is not an official Church document and has no authority, it is an interesting correspondence so I would now like to provide you with a brief summary of its message in the hope that you find it to be helpful – as I did. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done as the secular media has presented the original document as blessing gay marriages – which it did not do overtly – but, at least, we can see from the press release that the official Church’s position has not changed.
This 4 January 2024 press release begins with an acknowledgement of the statements the Dicastry for the Doctrine of the Faith has received from some Episcopal Conferences and an interesting disclaimer that “what is expressed by these Episcopal Conferences cannot be interpreted as doctrinal opposition because the document is clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality. There are several indisputable phrases in the Declaraton that leave this in no doubt.” In defense of the orthodoxy of Fiducia Supplicans, the press release next quotes from the Vatican document:
This Declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion. One acts in these situations of couples in irregular situations without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.
Therefore, rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage – which is the “exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children”–and what contradicts it are inadmissible. This conviction is grounded in the perennial Catholic doctrine of marriage; it is only in this context that sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning. The Church’s doctrine on this point remains firm.
Countering the charges made by several bishops and episcopal conferences, Cardinal Fernández draws the conclusion that “evidently, there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this Declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church or blasphemous.”
The press release then acknowledges that if “there are laws that condemn the mere act of declaring oneself as a homosexual with prison and in some cases with torture and even death, it goes without saying that a blessing would be imprudent.” It goes on to explain that the “real novelty of this Declaration, the one that requires a generous effort of reception and from which no one should declare themselves excluded, is not the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations. It is the invitation to distinguish between two different forms of blessings: “liturgical or ritualized” and “spontaneous or pastoral”. Recognizing the reluctance that some bishops have expressed, the press release exhorts:
Although some Bishops consider it prudent not to impart these blessings for the moment, we all need to grow equally in the conviction that: non-ritualized blessings are not a consecration of the person nor of the couple who receives them, they are not a justification of all their actions, and they are not an endorsement of the life that they lead. When the Pope asked us to grow in a broader understanding of pastoral blessings, he proposed that we think of a way of blessing that does not require the placing of so many conditions to carry out this simple gesture of pastoral closeness, which is a means of promoting openness to God in the midst of the most diverse circumstances.
In response to questions from bishops about the practical application of Fiducia Supplicans, the press release next provides some very concrete advice for such a blessing:
To be clearly distinguished from liturgical or ritualized blessings, “pastoral blessings” must above all be very short. These are blessings lasting a few seconds, without an approved ritual and without a book of blessings. If two people approach together to seek the blessing, one simply asks the Lord for peace, health and other good things for these two people who request it. At the same time, one asks that they may live the Gospel of Christ in full fidelity and so that the Holy Spirit can free these two people from everything that does not correspond to his divine will and from everything that requires purification.
This non-ritualized form of blessing, with the simplicity and brevity of its form, does not intend to justify anything that is not morally acceptable. Obviously it is not a marriage, but equally it is not an “approval” or ratification of anything either. It is solely the response of a pastor towards two persons who ask for God’s help. Therefore, in this case, the pastor does not impose conditions and does not enquire about the intimate lives of these people.
Since some have raised the question of what these blessings might look like, let us look at a concrete example: let us imagine that among a large number making a pilgrimage a couple of divorced people, now in a new union, say to the priest: “Please give us a blessing, we cannot find work, he is very ill, we do not have a home and life is becoming very difficult: may God help us!”.
In this case, the priest can recite a simple prayer like this: “Lord, look at these children of yours, grant them health, work, peace and mutual help. Free them from everything that contradicts your Gospel and allow them to live according to your will. Amen”. Then it concludes with the sign of the cross on each of the two persons.
We are talking about something that lasts about 10 or 15 seconds. Does it make sense to deny these kinds of blessings to these two people who ask for them? Is it not more appropriate to support their faith, whether it be small or great, to assist them in their weaknesses with a divine blessing, and to channel that openness to transcendence which could lead them to be more faithful to the Gospel?
In order to avoid any doubt, the Declaration adds that, when the blessing is requested by a couple in an irregular situation, “even though it is expressed outside the rites prescribed by the liturgical books, this blessing should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them. Nor can it be performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding. The same applies when the blessing is requested by a same-sex couple” (n. 39). It remains clear, therefore, that the blessing must not take place in a prominent place within a sacred building, or in front of an altar, as this also would create confusion.
I find the backpedaling and repeated resorting to the support from the Holy Father to be sad and telling aspects of this press release. As I mentioned earlier, the damage has already been done since the secular media have interpreted Fiducia Supplicans as a clear step toward blessing gay marriages. I’ll be sure to keep you abreast of any further clarification of this document. In the meantime, let us continue to pray for God’s blessing on all of us; we certainly need it at this time!