Grace and blessings to all. In response to the declaration “Fiducia supplicans” issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on December 18, 2023, I offer the following:
Unfortunately, some in the media and elsewhere are misrepresenting this document through their own interpretation to the public, describing it as authorizing the blessing of same-sex unions. I would encourage everyone to read the document in its entirety.
What is articulated in “Fiducia supplicans” is a distinction between liturgical blessings and spontaneous pastoral blessings, which may be given to any person who desires God’s loving grace in his or her life. The Church’s teaching on marriage has not changed. While this declaration affirms the need to make an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives, the 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.” [from the Presentation section in the beginning of the Declaration]
The declaration goes on to state: “When a blessing is invoked on certain human relationships by a special liturgical rite, it is necessary that what is blessed corresponds with God’s designs written in creation and fully revealed by Christ the Lord. For this reason, since the Church has always considered only those sexual relations that are lived out within marriage to be morally licit, the Church does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when that would somehow offer a form of moral legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an extra-marital sexual practice.” [Paragraph 11]
The declaration is very specific in noting that in order “to avoid any form of confusion or scandal, when the prayer of 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.” [Paragraph 39]
While seeking to care for all of God’s people in a pastoral way regardless of their circumstances, a priest or deacon must never offer a blessing in such a way such as to suggest or simulate that it is a blessing of a civil union of a same-sex couple, comparable to the blessing of a man and woman in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
In essence, this declaration from the Church regarding pastoral blessings is intended to show forth Christ’s merciful love to all people – not to change her teachings on morals or the sacraments. The mercy of the Lord always includes his loving call to conversion, and that is true for each of us. This is precisely the spirit behind the Church granting priests and deacons the ability to spontaneously offer pastoral blessings to everyone and in every circumstance.