The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues a declaration approved by Pope Francis on the question of divorced and same-sex couples who ask the Church for a blessing. It calls for openness to an act of "pastoral charity" but outside the liturgy, separate from civil unions and without forms, so as not to associate it to marriage as a sacrament whose truth is “perennial”. This means no “legitimation of their own status” but trust in “the grace of God”.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith today issued the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans on the pastoral meaning of blessings, approved by Pope Francis.

In it, the dicastery states that a Catholic priest can accept a request for a blessing by couples in irregular situations from the point of view of Canon Law, including same-sex couples, but this must be done in a way that makes it clear that this kind of blessing is something different from the sacrament of marriage.

The document, signed by the prefect, Card Victor Manuel Fernandez, and the secretary, Mgr Armando Matteo, comes at a time when this topic is hotly debated within the Catholic Church.

The matter was also raised on the eve of the synod by some cardinals (Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Leo Burke, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah and Joseph Zen Ze-kiun) in some Dubia (doctrinal questions) submitted to Pope Francis.

The document released today develops the answer that the pontiff had already given to the issue, urging the clergy “not to ‘lose pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes’.”

Francis called for the possibility of “forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey an erroneous conception of marriage”, which can, however, express “a petition for God’s assistance, a plea to live better” To this end, the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans explores what it calls "the meaning of the various blessings".

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterates in its introduction that "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.

It describes the Catholic doctrine of marriage as "perennial" and explains that “only in this context that sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning.” Yet, it also calls for a "theological-pastoral understanding of blessings" that the priest can offer in his ministry.

“One who asks for a blessing shows himself to be in need of God’s saving presence in his life and one who asks for a blessing from the Church recognizes the latter as a sacrament of the salvation that God offers.”

“This request should, in every way, be valued, accompanied, and received with gratitude. People who come spontaneously to ask for a blessing show by this request their sincere openness to transcendence, the confidence of their hearts that they do not trust in their own strength alone, their need for God, and their desire to break out of the narrow confines of this world, enclosed in its limitations.”

In this broader perspective, placed outside the liturgical rites and very similar in form to popular piety, blessings become an act that accompanies the journey, without excluding anyone. And it is in this precise context that the topic of the blessing of couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples, must also be placed.

This must be seen as “the invocation of a blessing that descends from God upon those who – recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help – do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

“These forms of blessing express a supplication that God may grant those aids that come from the impulses of his Spirit – what classical theology calls ‘actual grace’ – so that human relationships may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties, and that they may express themselves in the ever-increasing dimension of the divine love.

“Indeed, the grace of God works in the lives of those who do not claim to be righteous but who acknowledge themselves humbly as sinners, like everyone else.”

Thus, “it is essential to grasp the Holy Father’s concern that these non-ritualized blessings never cease being simple gestures that provide an effective means of increasing trust in God on the part of the people who ask for them, careful that they should not become a liturgical or semi-liturgical act, similar to a sacrament.”

“For this reason, one should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation. At the same time, one should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing.

“In a brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue, and mutual assistance—but also God’s light and strength to be able to fulfil his will completely.

“In any case, precisely 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.

“Such a blessing may instead find its place in other contexts, such as a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group, or during a pilgrimage.”

Through such blessings “there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.”

Photo: Palace of the Holy Office, seat of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith

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