Pope criticized document that rejected blessings given to same-sex couples

ROMA – In elliptical form, Pope Francis today criticized the document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) which caused a sensation in the world last Monday, in which the body that guards Catholic orthodoxy specifically ruled that the Blessings to same-sex couples are “not lawful”. Something that fell like a bomb in homosexual communities and which contradicts the open and inclusive pastoral care of the Pope towards them, who were described as “sinners”.

Reflecting on the Gospel of the day during the traditional Marian prayer of the Angelus, Pope Francis commented that “today too many people, often without saying it implicitly, would like to see Jesus, to meet him, to know him”. “We must also respond with the testimony of a life given to service, of a life that takes upon itself the style of God – closeness, compassion and tenderness – and is given to service. It is a question of sowing seeds of love not with words that the wind blows, but with concrete, simple and courageous examples, not with theoretical condemnations, but with gestures of love ”, he said. he said, in words he added to the text he had prepared and in what seemed a clear allusion to the “responsum” – a document with which an answer is usually given – of the CDF. “Then the Lord, with his grace, makes us fruitful, even when the ground is arid due to misunderstandings, difficulties or persecutions, or claims of clerical legalism or moralism. It’s arid terrain, ”he added.

Although he did not bring up the CDF document, aware that this is a very sensitive issue internally, where a battle is taking place between ultraconservatives and progressives, with these words Pope Francis seemed to distance from the text, which fell very badly among homosexuals. faithful., who suddenly felt betrayed. The “responsum”, in fact, ensures that the Church cannot bless unions of people of the same sex, “because she cannot bless sin”. He recalled that for the doctrine of the Church, the only possible sacramental marriage is the indissoluble union between man and woman and never between people of the same sex, unions considered “not ordained to the design of God”.

While the Pope “has been informed and has given his assent” to the “responsum” in question, which was drafted in response to the fact that German priests already often bless unions of same-sex couples, the document draws attention by being in obvious contradiction with pastoral care. open to homosexuals that Jorge Bergoglio had since the beginning of his pontificate, marked by gestures and words of closeness and openness towards them. From “who am I to judge a gay?” July 2013, various meetings and his words to homosexuals, like the Chilean victim of abuse, Juan Carlos Cruz, whom he received at the Vatican in May 2018. “The Pope said to me: ‘Juan Carlos, the fact that you”re gay doesn’t matter. God made you that way and he wants you that way, the Pope loves you that way and you have to love yourself, ”then revealed Cruz, in a sentence that made homosexuals feel for the first time not rejected by the Catholic Church. Or the sentence that the Pontiff pronounced a few months ago to a group of parents of LGTB people who greeted at the end of a general audience: “The Pope loves his children as they are because they are. children of God ”.

A high-ranking Vatican source consulted by La Nación, who requested anonymity, deemed “very possible” that the Pope referred during the Angelus to the “responsum” of the CDF last Monday. Indeed, he assured that the three words mentioned by the Pope, “closeness, compassion, tenderness” are “the true blessings of the Church and of her pastor, for every situation”. “These words are the true measure of the true magisterium when they illuminate consciences and guide the faithful. Any responsum and the doctrine that surrounds it should be raised to that extent, ”he added.

Another source agreed, who pointed out that the “responsum” of the CDF last Monday clearly clashes with this Church as a “field hospital after the battle, which must heal the wounds of all”, which he said. called and sucked from the start. Pope Francis, “which must include everyone, including members of the LGTB community.”

The truth is that last Monday’s “responsum” of the CDF categorically cried out to the world that “the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless same-sex unions” and explained the reasons – a victory for the ultra-conservative wing, sparked a real Catholic “agricultural rebellion”.

Very critical voices have been raised in Germany, where at a synod – a meeting of bishops and laity – the issue of blessings is debated and where several priests, directly, have argued that they will disobey the CDF and would continue to give his blessing to same-sex couples. “In light of the CDF’s refusal to bless same-sex unions, we raise our voices and say: we will continue to support those who commit to a lasting union and we will bless their relationship. We do not refuse to celebrate a blessing, ”warned priests Burkhard Hose and Bernd Moenkebuescher via their social networks. “We do this by assuming our responsibility as pastors who promise people at important times in their lives a blessing that only God gives,” they explained. “We respect and appreciate their love, and furthermore, we believe that God’s blessing is with them. The arguments and theological ideas are sufficient. We do not accept that an exclusive and outdated sexual morality is carried on their backs by people and threatens our pastoral work, ”they added.

Words from the same tenor were heard by Austrian and American priests.