In an interview with kath.ch, the Luxembourg archbishop stressed "If you attack too much, you won't achieve much. You have to be cautious, take one step at a time, and then you might be able to go very far".

As the General Relator in the synodal process of the universal Church, Hollerich highlighted that the synod focuses on listening rather than politicising.

The Jesuit commented that the issue of the ordination of women is not an infallible doctrinal decision. "It can be changed. It needs arguments and time."

Hollerich said he would be delighted if women felt fully equal in the church. "Whether that happens through the priesthood or not is something that time will tell."

What is important now is "that women are given more responsibility".

Addressing the criteria for ordination, Hollerich noted that vocation alone is not sufficient. He acknowledged that while men's vocations are scrutinised, women's are not, which can appear as structural discrimination - especially from a European perspective.

The Catholic Church will fall apart

He pointed out that the Church must consider global perspectives, where community often takes precedence over individualism.

The cardinal explained that the objection that appointed women should take a back seat is "based on a typically European principle of the individual. Many societies don't think like that at all - the community comes before the individual".

Hollerich warned against imposing European individualistic principles on the global Church, which could be seen as neo-colonialist and provoke a backlash.

According to Hollerich, the global church must consider different mentalities. "We have to have these discussions with the whole church, otherwise we will have huge problems later. Then the Catholic Church will fall apart."

Cardinal Hollerich concluded: "It's not the evil Vatican that insists on these positions and doesn't want to change anything." There would be "a storm in other continents if it were to introduce the female priesthood tomorrow" and the Vatican would have to back down.

This has already been experienced with the comparatively "small matter" that same-sex couples can now be blessed in church.

Sources

English Katholisch

The Pillar

CathNews New Zealand

Filmed and then posted on social media, the way he carried out the same-sex blessing was a "very poor decision" Father Joseph Williams says.

In the apology - issued by the Vincentians' Western Province - Williams says he is "deeply sorry for any confusion and/or anger that this has caused, particularly for the People of God.

"The shape that the blessing took as portrayed in the video came about due to my attempt to provide for them a meaningful moment of God's grace.

"I wanted to do it well. A week or so after the fact, I viewed the video. I immediately realised that I had made a very poor decision in the words and visuals captured on the video."

Williams says he told the couple when they approached him that he could provide only a blessing, not a wedding.

However he "regrets the language of the blessing and the use of vestments and the church itself, which he now recognises were a violation of the norms approved by the Church".

The blessing

In April, Williams blessed a same-sex union before the altar at St Vincent de Paul Church where he is the pastor.

One of the newly-blessed partners then posted a brief video and photographs of the blessing on her Instagram account.

She described the same-sex blessing as "a blessing of our marriage".

The video pictured the couple dressed in formal attire, standing with Williams in the sanctuary.

Williams asks "Do you freely recommit yourselves to love each other as holy spouses and to live in peace and harmony together forever?"

"We do, I do," they reply.

Williams then asks God to "increase and consecrate the love".

He continues, saying "the rings they have exchanged are the sign of their fidelity and commitment. May they continue to prosper in your grace and blessing. We ask this through Christ our Lord".

New Church guidelines

Last December's Vatican declaration "Fiducia Supplicans" ("Supplicating Trust") allows pastoral, non-liturgical blessings of couples in irregular unions.

They can be same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples.

However such blessings "precisely to avoid any form of confusion or scandal ... should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union and not even in connection with them" Fiducia says.

"Nor can it be performed with any clothing, gestures or words that are proper to a wedding."

Source

• NCR
• CNA

The Patriarchate of Alexandria and Coptic officials have labelled same-sex blessings as heresy.

The Holy Synod of the ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, based in Egypt, announced the suspension on March 7.

"After consulting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family" they wrote, "it was decided to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, reevaluate the results achieved by the dialogue from its beginning 20 years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in the future."

The Vatican's publication of "Fiducia supplicans" was the catalyst for this decision. The document addressed blessings for couples in "irregular situations" including same-sex relationships.

"We cannot recognise that two people of the same sex form a couple" an aide to Pope Tawadros II (pictured with Pope Francis) told La Croix.

"The text is unacceptable, as is the explanation later provided by the Vatican. Pope Francis wanted to please Europeans but, for us, it is a huge heresy" the aide pointed out.

"The Bible in both Testaments condemns, warns against, and prohibits sexual practices between two people of the same sex" asserted the Orthodox Coptic bishops.

Severe setback

The suspension of dialogue is considered a severe setback in relations between Rome and Alexandria. It follows a historic public audience between Pope Tawadros II and Pope Francis less than a year ago.

"Pope Tawadros II greatly appreciates Pope Francis" said Rafic Greiche, a former spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt. "So far, he has managed to appease bishops opposed to any reconciliation with Catholics. It will now be much more difficult in the face of a Synod that will oppose any further progress" the priest said.

While ecumenical prayer initiatives remain unaffected, the halt in dialogue could have broader implications. Many within the Coptic hierarchy have long opposed unity with the Catholic Church. Fiducia supplicans has reignited the deep-seated conflicts.

The Coptic Orthodox Church has made strides towards unity with Rome. However, these recent developments mark a significant setback in the relationship between the two churches.

Sources

Le Croix International

Catholic News Agency

CathNews New Zealand

He was contemplating two photos of a young gay female couple kissing and another one of a male gay couple kissing at their wedding ceremony.

"These images make me think the world is coming to an end," he said. "They are things you can't imagine happening, and people blindly support them."

The 55-year-old father of six, who owns a food kiosk in Wakiso, blamed the West for invading his culture and destroying its values.

He believes foreign governments are sponsoring LGBTQ people and their activities in the country.

"The people who call themselves LGBTQ activists are now recruiting many people, including our children," Lubega said.

"They don't know what they are doing, but they are destroying people's lives by engaging them in unethical activities.

"The West want to make our country Sodom and Gomorrah, and we won't accept it."

Illegal and immoral activity

Last year in May, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a measure calling for life imprisonment for anyone convicted of same-sex activity.

The law also calls for the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which involves cases of same-sex relations involving people who are HIV positive, children and other vulnerable people.

Lubega, who wants the government to ban LGBTQ rights groups, is a staunch Catholic, and like many of his co-religionists, opposes Pope Francis's recent move to allow priests to administer blessings to same-sex couples.

The organisation of Catholic bishops in Africa and Madagascar stated earlier this month that they will refuse to follow Francis' declaration.

The bishop of Lira Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Sanctus Lino Wanok (pictured), has launched a campaign against all forms of LGBTQ identity or activism in northern Uganda.

He is calling on LGBTQ advocates to repent and seek God's blessings.

"It's shameful to see some people promoting sin and luring people to join in committing sin," Wanok told RNS.

"People must not accept homosexuality because it's a mockery of God, our creator."

Wanok, Lubega and others are among the religious leaders, government officials and some rights group activists who have blamed the West for promoting LGBTQ acceptance in the country.

They say the activities have recently increased with pro-gay activists targeting school-going children.

Praise for Pope

A Catholic LGBTQ activist who asked for anonymity for his safety praised Francis's declaration permitting priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

However, he said the Pope's approval has only prompted the Government and citizens to increase attacks on their members.

He said families have disowned LGBTQ members, churches have given strict instructions not to allow them in the church's compounds, landlords have evicted them and some have lost jobs.

"We live in fear because we cannot identify as gay, lesbian or transgender," said the activist.

"Pope Francis should give clear instructions to bishops and priests to allow LGBTQ members to worship God and nourish their spirits."

Cultural divisions

The Western world has for years called on African governments to give LGBTQ people equal rights by decriminalising same-sex sexual acts and protecting their rights.

In June last year, the United States imposed visa restrictions on dozens of Uganda officials in response to the country's anti-gay laws.

"As Africans, we should be very careful and not accept everything white people tell us," warned catechist Charles Kiwuwa from the Archdiocese of Tororo in the eastern region of Uganda, in an interview with RNS.

"They have told us that polygamy is a sin because they know most Africans embrace it and that homosexuality is righteousness because we disagree."

The Catholic leaders have begun a countrywide campaign to fight "agents of homosexuality" in the country who they believe are being supported by foreign governments to spread LGBTQ activism in schools and other institutions.

The church leaders have expressed concern over increasing cases of same-sex attraction among the youth and school-going children.

They are accusing these agents of luring school children with money and other luxurious gifts to recruit them.

"As a church, we have decided to fight homosexuality to save our children and the country from collapsing because the Bible teaches us that homosexuality is evil, as read in Genesis Chapters 18 and 19," the Rev. Richard Nyombi told RNS.

Nyombi, the parish priest of Mapeera Nabulagala in Kampala, said religious leaders had fought same-sex attraction from time immemorial, both in the Bible and today.

They are unwilling to allow foreign culture to influence the country.

"We are preaching against homosexuality during Mass and other gatherings to help our brothers and sisters not fall prey to the vice and for those who have already been lured into the practice to repent and follow God's way," he said.

Church leaders have been meeting with youth, parents, children, elders and government officers in an effort to curb the spread of "immoral" behavior among people, especially children.

The leaders have also been advising parents during Masses and other gatherings to warn their children against same-sex attraction and to urge them to be content with what their parents have given them, so they are not tempted by money.

"We have started to sensitise children in schools and homes against the vice of homosexuality," said the Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Kikomeko, the parish priest of Kisubi in Kampala. They also offer weekly workshops, he said.

"We want to make children and parents aware that homosexuality is a sin, and pro-gay activists should never influence them to join LGTBQ groups because it's evil and not accepted in the Bible."

• Tonny Onyulo is an author at Religion News Service.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

The declaration allows Catholic priests to bless couples - including same-sex couples - who according to church teaching may not marry.

The Church needs to return "to the clarity of the word of God" rather than "bowing down to this absolutely wrong LGBT and woke ideology" Müller says.

Müller, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, says in his view there was "no need" for the declaration.

People in same-sex relationships are "not brought to the Church by relativising the truth and cheapening grace, but by the unadulterated Gospel of Christ" he says.

He believes as a consequence of Fiducia "nobody is speaking about the blessing of marriage, of children, of the family" which is "our duty" and "not to divide the Church".

Pope Francis explains

Pope Francis spoke of Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on Wednesday.

"Nobody is scandalised if I give a blessing to a businessman who may be exploiting people, and that is a very serious sin" he said.

"Whereas they are scandalised if I give it to a homosexual. This is hypocrisy!"

He also blesses everyone in the confessional. "I don't bless a ‘homosexual marriage', I bless two people who love each other."

Francis says blessing irregular relationships should be spontaneous, non-liturgical, and should not require moral perfection. The aim is to bless individuals, not their unions.

Confusion reigns

Given the Church already permits individual blessings, Müller says there was no need for Fiducia.

There is no clear explanation of the difference between a liturgical and the private benediction. Müller says there's a nebulous connotation instead of saying what is absolutely clear in the Gospel.

Even if the declaration were needed to stop the Church in Germany, in particular from offering liturgical same-sex blessings, Müller doesn't agree with them.

"We must say the truth: If I preach the Gospel, I am under the judgment of the Gospel. The preacher himself must be a model of all."

Nor is the declaration necessary to reach people wounded by the tragic consequences of the sex revolution to bring them back to the Church, he says.

They're not brought to the Church by relativising the truth and cheapening grace, but by the unadulterated Gospel of Christ, he says.

He also considers the declaration does not mention the sin of sexual relations outside marriage, same-sex acts, the importance of repentance and firm purpose of amendment, or exhorting the person to come to Christ.

What is needed is a real turning away from sin and a full conversion to the Lord, he says.

"Go back to the clarity of the word of God and what is said in the Catechism, and not this bowing down to this absolutely wrong LGBT and woke ideology.

"That is not modern, that is a falling back to the old paganism."

Source

• National Catholic Reporter

"These images make me think the world is coming to an end," he said.

"They are things you can't imagine happening, and people blindly support them."

The 55-year-old father of six, who owns a food kiosk in Wakiso, blamed the West for invading his culture and destroying its values.

He believes foreign governments are sponsoring LGBTQ people and their activities in the country.

"The people who call themselves LGBTQ activists are now recruiting many people, including our children," Lubega said.

"They don't know what they are doing, but they are destroying people's lives by engaging them in unethical activities. The West want to make our country Sodom and Gomorrah, and we won't accept it."

Last year in May, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a measure calling for life imprisonment for anyone convicted of same-sex activity.

The law also calls for the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which involves cases of same-sex relations involving people who are HIV positive, children and other vulnerable people.

Many LGBTQ Ugandans have since fled to neighbouring countries to escape homophobia.

Lubega, who wants the government to ban LGBTQ rights groups, is a staunch Catholic, and like many of his co-religionists opposes Pope Francis' recent move to allow priests to administer blessings to same-sex couples.

The organisation of Catholic bishops in Africa and Madagascar stated earlier this month that they will refuse to follow Francis' declaration.

The bishop of Lira Diocese, the Rt Rev. Sanctus Lino Wanok, has launched a campaign against all forms of LGBTQ identity or activism in northern Uganda, calling LGBTQ advocates to repent and seek God's blessings.

"It's shameful to see some people promoting sin and luring people to join in committing sin," Wanok told RNS.

"People must not accept homosexuality because it's a mockery of God, our creator."

They are among the religious leaders, government officials and some rights group activists who have blamed the West for promoting LGBTQ acceptance in the country, saying the activities have recently increased with pro-gay activists targeting school-going children.

A Catholic LGBTQ activist who asked for anonymity for his safety praised Francis' declaration permitting priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

However, he said the pope approval has only prompted the government and citizens to increase attacks on their members.

He said families have disowned LGBTQ members, churches have given strict instructions not to allow them in the church's compounds, landlords have evicted them and some have lost jobs.

"We live in fear because we cannot identify as gay, lesbian or transgender," said the activist.

"Pope Francis should give clear instructions to bishops and priests to allow LGBTQ members to worship God and nourish their spirits."

The Western world has for years called on African governments to give LGBTQ people equal rights by decriminalizing same-sex sexual acts and protecting their rights.

In June last year, the United States imposed visa restrictions on dozens of Uganda officials in response to the country's anti-gay laws.

"As Africans, we should be very careful and not accept everything white people tell us," warned catechist Charles Kiwuwa from the Archdiocese of Tororo in the eastern region of Uganda in an interview with RNS.

"They have told us that polygamy is a sin because they know most Africans embrace it and that homosexuality is righteousness because we disagree."

The Catholic leaders have begun a countrywide campaign to fight "agents of homosexuality" in the country who they believe are being supported by foreign governments to spread LGBTQ activism in schools and other institutions.

The church leaders have expressed concern over increasing cases of same-sex attraction among the youth and school-going children, accusing these agents of luring school children with money and other luxurious gifts to recruit them.

"As a church, we have decided to fight homosexuality to save our children and the country from collapsing because the Bible teaches us that homosexuality is evil, as read in Genesis Chapters 18 and 19," the Rev Richard Nyombi told RNS.

Nyombi, the parish priest of Mapeera Nabulagala in Kampala, said religious leaders had fought same-sex attraction from time immemorial, both in the Bible and today, and they are unwilling to allow foreign culture to influence the country.

"We are preaching against homosexuality during Mass and other gatherings to help our brothers and sisters not fall prey to the vice and for those who have already been lured into the practice to repent and follow God's way," he said.

Church leaders have been meeting with youth, parents, children, elders and government officers in an effort to curb the spread of "immoral" behaviour among people, especially children.

The leaders have also been advising parents during Masses and other gatherings to warn their children against same-sex attraction and to urge them to be content with what their parents have given them, so they are not tempted by money.

"We have started to sensitize children in schools and homes against the vice of homosexuality," said the Rev. Fr Francis Xavier Kikomeko, the parish priest of Kisubi in Kampala, who also said they offer weekly workshops.

"We want to make children and parents aware that homosexuality is a sin, and pro-gay activists should never influence them to join LGTBQ groups because it's evil and not accepted in the Bible."

Source

• Tonny Onyulo is an author at Religion News Service
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

The motion came from the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally.

Last week, the Church's General Synod voted to move ahead with implementing special prayers of thanks and dedication for gay couples.

The vote followed the House of Bishops' agreement last month to commend "Prayers of Love and Faith" for same-sex couples.

These may be used in existing church services and as the basis for stand-alone services, the bishops agreed.

Uncertainty, tension and division

The vote to go ahead with the pilot programme followed hours of ardent debate.

Synod members — bishops, clergy and lay representatives — reportedly became "emotionally charged" when considering the church's pastoral responsibilities toward gay people.

Mullally highlighted the uncertainty and tensions in the Church of England regarding same-sex unions.

There is particular concern over the content of prayers for same-sex blessings, she told the General Synod.

Some synod members said the test might affect the "optics" surrounding the blessings, suggesting that they are weddings in all but name.

Tentative agreement

It was the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, who proposed an amendment calling for a stand-alone services' trial period.

His proposal was carried by one vote in the House of Laity, and 25-16 among the Bishops.

The House of Bishops' meeting in mid-December will discuss the best way to authorise the services.

Mullally hopes the House will also commend the Prayers of Love and Faith for use and will "reflect" on how to implement the trial period.

Once these have been decided, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York will put the plan into action.

Discerning, not dividing

While Croft says he is he relieved his amendment and the final motion had been carried, he is "concerned about the fracturing of collegiality among the Bishops".

He also says the bishops should "attend to" the mistrust expressed by people on both sides of the debate.

Support for prayers and blessings for same-sex unions came from the archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Opponents say once the blessings have been implemented, they would be hard to retract.

The bishop of Chichester wants more study on the idea.

"Like all doctrine, the doctrine of marriage is practical, but it [also...] shows that what we do now is linked to eternal reality. How we use our bodies matters ... the rationale for using these prayers needs far more elucidation."

The Bishop of Lancaster, Jill Duff, also opposed Croft's amendment and voted against the final motion.

Croft's amendment and its "one-vote knife-edge" would make it difficult to implement anything she says.

While the Archbishop of York is concerned the disagreements "appeared to be stretching us to breaking point," he also says "there should be no place for homophobia in our church."

Moving forward - together

A "better way that will help us keep united, help us flourish" is needed, Duff says.

She suggests a "consensus" on same-sex unions akin to the one that enabled the legislation on women bishops to be carried by a two-thirds majority in the Synod.

Mullally is convinced the "difference of views" can be resolved.

"What we're trying to model is how do you ... seek to try and find a place we can occupy together," she says. The process is "iterative", involving listening and attempting to discern a way forward.

Source

• Church Times
• Religion News

In his letter to priests, deacons and lay pastoral workers last week, Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann officially sanctioned the blessings.

The same-sex blessings the Speyer diocese gave in the Speyer churches could also be given to remarried couples, he wrote.

At the same time, the ceremony "must differ from a church wedding ceremony in terms of words and signs...".

In addition, it "should explicitly reinforce the love, commitment and mutual responsibility in the couple's relationship as an act of blessing" Weissmann wrote.

Wiesemann says he decide to write the letter after taking into account the German synodal way participants' percent support for the blessings.

The participants endorsed a document calling for "blessing ceremonies for couples who love each other" he says.

The document asked for a "handout" about the blessings to be developed for German dioceses' use.

It should cover "suggested forms for blessing celebrations for various couple situations (remarried couples, same-sex couples, couples after civil marriage)."

Pastoral response

It is "urgently time" for a different perspective "to find a pastoral attitude inspired by the Gospel", Weisemann's letter says.

Many pastors have been practising this "for some time".

This is important, "especially against the background of a long history of deep hurt" he wrote.

"Many couples' prayers for blessing reveal a deep longing to be able to live their lives together under the protection and guidance of God.

"...This is to be taken seriously and points to ... God's presence wherever there is goodness and love.

"Both with regard to believers whose marriages have broken down and who have remarried, and especially with regard to same-sex oriented people, it is urgently time ...

"That's why I campaigned for a reassessment of homosexuality in Church teaching in the synodal way and also voted for the possibility of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples."

He said he hoped the global synod "can also experience positive development."

Wiesemann's fervent hopes may yet be dashed however.

October's synod on synodality's first session wrap-up report did not mention same-sex blessings or even "LGBT".

Vatican view

In 2021 the Holy See said the Church does not have the power to offer liturgical blessings for same-sex unions.

However, the Pope recently addressed the 'same-sex blessings' topic in response to several dubia cardinals posed ahead of the synod.

It is a matter of pastoral prudence to "properly discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more people, that do not convey a misconception of marriage" Pope Francis told the cardinals.

"Decisions ... need not be transformed into a norm" he wrote.

His cautionary words may be too late.

Support for same-sex blessings is already established in Belgium.

A matter of choice

Wiesemann says pastors won't be compelled to bless couples.

"... but my request also means that no one who carries out such blessings has to fear sanctions" he stresses.

Until the German bishops' conference completes the handout, Weismann says pastors should refer to an AFK publication called "The celebration of blessings for couples".

Source

• The Pillar

The blessings must not be confused with the wedding ceremonies of heterosexuals, and decisions as to whether to bless these couples should be decided on a case-by-case basis he said.

Francis shared his views on several hot theological topics after five cardinals, Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah and Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. gave him a series of dubia (formal questions).

The topics are among those being discussed at the synod, which started in Rome on Wednesday.

The dubia and Francis's response to them were sent to the cardinals in July.

However, the Vatican published the responses on Monday after the cardinals made their initiative public, saying they are unsatisfied with Francis' answers.

"A single formulation of a truth will never be properly understood if it stands alone, isolated from the rich and harmonious context of the whole of Revelation."

Scripture and tradition also need to be interpreted, he said.

Same-sex couples blessings

Francis's current views on blessing same-sex couples has moved from the Vatican doctrinal office's explicit ruling about the topic in 2021.

In his July 2023 response to the dubia, Francis seems open to the idea, but urged caution.

"Pastoral prudence must ... properly discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more people, that do not convey a misconception of marriage" he wrote.

He stressed the Church's ruling that the sacrament of matrimony must be between only a man and woman, and open to procreation.

He wrote that the Church should avoid any other ritual or sacramental rite that contradicted this teaching.

At the same time, "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes" he said.

"We cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude.

"Because, when a blessing is requested, it is a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better."

This is true even if some acts were "objectively morally unacceptable".

Discernment necessary

Same-sex blessings should not become the norm. Nor should Church jurisdictions such as dioceses and national bishops 'conferences provide blanket approval for them, Francis wrote.

A certain amount must be left to pastors' discernment.

He does not endorse some German hopes for official, liturgical blessings of same-sex couples.

Commentators say he appears more supportive of Belgian bishops' moves on this subject.

Source

• Reuters
• The Tablet

Bonny and the other Flemish bishops of Belgium introduced a blessing for same-sex couples in September 2022.

They also published a handout outlining suggested liturgy and prayers.

The bishops' based their decision to go ahead with the same sex blessings on Pope Francis' 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Bonny denies the blessings present a conflict of conscience, even though he is going against a definitive 2021 Vatican ruling that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.

The Vatican has "different positions and developments", he says.

"Rome is not just a document or a cardinal. No, Rome is also unity in diversity."

Neither Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni nor the Diocese of Antwerp responded to media requests for further clarification.

Bonny's mission

Bonny has long pressed for greater acceptance of homosexual relationships within the Catholic Church.

In March he told the German Church's Synodal Way that during the Flemish bishops' ad limina visit last November, the Pope neither approved nor denied such blessings.

He said it was the Flemish bishops pastoral domain so long as they were all united.

He and his brother bishops "speak with one voice; there are no divisions or subgroups on this subject," he claimed.

Flemish bishops do not have the same tensions with Rome that mark the Church in Germany. He put this down to the Flemish bishops internal unity on "big issues" and being a small bishops' conference.

Some think Bonny influenced the German Synodal Way meeting in March to allow same-sex blessings.

"It is a ministry of unity in the Church, unity in diversity," he said.

What the Vatican says

In March 2021 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stressed that blessings are sacramentals. They have "singular importance" in the Church's liturgy.

As such, they can be imparted only on that which conforms to the nature of sacramentals.

God, the CDF said, "does not and cannot bless sin."

This clarification was not meant to be "a form of unjust discrimination," the Vatican said. Instead, it was a "reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite and of the very nature of the sacramentals, as the Church understands them."

Bishop Bonny strongly criticised the CDF ruling.

He said it was contrary to the "dynamic" of the 2015 Synod on the Family and undermined the "credibility of the ‘synodal path' advocated by Pope Francis."

Source

• National Catholic Register

One comment was that Pope Francis should correct and, if necessary, punish some German bishops.

Müller was referring to those who have approved "heretical texts" and "proposals directly against the Catholic faith". These proposals include offering church blessings to homosexual couples.

"I think there should be a canonical process" [against them], he claimed.

"Collegiality exists, but there is also the primacy [of the pope], and canonically the pope has the responsibility to ask for an explanation, to correct and — in extreme cases — to dismiss bishops for doctrinal questions.

"They say the understanding of doctrine can develop, but we cannot develop revelation."

God can't bless two persons of the same sex who love each other with fidelity, he said.

"To bless homosexual couples is blasphemy."

James Martin SJ, whose pastoral ministry to LGBT persons also copped Müller's disapproval.

Müller thinks Francis - well known for supporting LGBT people - should tell Martin not to "instrumentalise" him.

Another topic was the Petrine ministry.

Müller agrees with Francis on this matter - that the Petrine ministry is "for life".

He remarked that earlier in his pontificate Francis agreed with Benedict XVI and said he had "opened the door" to popes resigning.

The war in Russia and the role religion is playing was another hot topic.

Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a good theologian, Müller said.

"But it is not possible to justify this war [against Ukraine] with the words of Jesus, as Putin has done. Furthermore, the idea of the Great Russia is absurd."

Kirill should criticise Russian president Vladimir Putin, the cardinal said - "but that would be his end".

Orthodox bishops in Russia have been subject to the state since Peter the Great, Müller noted. But we must not justify evil, he added.

He said Francis "is right to maintain contacts" with Russia "in this difficult moment," but "the position of the church is not to justify what the emperors do".

Asked why in the past he had criticised Francis for sometimes causing doctrinal "confusion" Müller said, "Francis ... cannot change, revealed doctrine, but the task of the Supreme Pontiff is not only to avoid causing confusion but also to deny such [things]".

As to whether he thinks some popes who are saints today may have given up on holiness to some degree when it came to governing the church, Müller said:

"I cannot judge those who have been already canonised because that is an act of infallibility, but the fame of sanctity comes from the people not from ecclesiastical authority."

Despite saying he wouldn't criticise the pope, Müller seems to disagree with Francis's decision to dispense with the need for a miracle for John XXIII's canonisation, saying that decision was "too political".

He concluded by denouncing the recent criticism of St John Paul II for allegedly covering up the abuse of minors by priests.

The political intent was to damage Catholicism in Poland "by decapitating the most important figure," he said.

Source

• America Magazine

Bishop Georg Bätzing wants Germany's bishops to support the prospect of liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.

The German Catholic news agency KNA says the German bishops' leader's agenda will call for "a common line in favour of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples" at the bishops' plenary assembly.

The gathering is taking place just days before the final scheduled meeting of Germany's controversial Synodal Way.

The Synodal Way has been a multi-year initiative bringing together bishops and select lay people to discuss far-reaching changes to Church teaching and structures.

Among the documents scheduled for discussion at the 9-11 March synodal assembly is a paper advocating same-sex blessings.

The paper defies a Vatican declaration in 2021 that "the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex".

Nonetheless, the document - "Blessing ceremonies for couples who love each other" - is due to have its second reading at next month's meeting in Frankfurt.

It could them be formally adopted as a Synodal Way resolution.

Bätzing has previously expressed support for same-sex blessings. He has said publicly that he intends to seek a united front on the issue at the bishops' Dresden meeting, however.

A press release announcing the plenary meeting noted that the 65 members of the German bishops' conference will discuss "the current issues of the synodal way, especially with a view to the fifth and thus last synodal assembly".

It doesn't mention any specific topics though.

Several German bishops have publicly backed same-sex blessings, while others s have expressed opposition.

If German media reports are accurate, Bätzing may be seeking to avoid a repeat of the scenes at the last synodal assembly in September.

That prompted protests when the bishops unexpectedly failed to pass a text calling for a change in the Church's approach to sexual ethics.

KNA claims the March synodal assembly will address a potentially "even more controversial" document on gender issues.

The text, "Dealing with gender diversity," will also have its second reading in March.

The draft document condemns the "wilful negative politicisation of intersex and transgender persons in the Church and in society".

It also says "all ordained ministries and pastoral vocations in the Church should be open to the intersex and transgender baptised and confirmed who sense a calling for themselves."

Source

• The Pillar

The Rev Giulio Mignani (pictured), 52, has been barred from celebrating Mass and the sacraments after vocally advocating for welcoming LGBTQ individuals into the church.

"The Church doesn't condemn homosexuality but homosexual relations. Which is like saying that it's ok to be hungry, but you can't eat," Mignani told Vanity Fair Italy in an article published on Wednesday.

"I mean, it's a paradigm that must be changed," he continued. "Homosexual love is still considered a sin, a mistake, when it's a fundamental aspect in the life of these people."

Bishop Luigi Ernesto Palletti of the northern Italian Diocese of Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato issued his decree against Father Giulio Mignani on Oct 3.

Palletti's statement referenced Mignani's repeated "public utterances not in conformity" with the Church's Magisterium, which had led to his incurring the latae sententiae suspension from public ministry.

The statement further noted that Mignani had not heeded warnings from his bishop, and had continued his public opposition to Catholic teaching.

Mignani's public heterodoxy became widely known in spring 2021 when he refused to bless palms on Palm Sunday. This was an act of protest against the Vatican's March 15 affirmation of Church teaching regarding the prohibition of blessings for same-sex couples.

"If I can't bless same-sex couples, then I don't bless palm trees and olive branches either," Mignani said.

Speaking to Vanity Fair Italy after receiving his notice of suspension, Mignani said that he had already received a rebuke from Bishop Palletti for supporting abortion and euthanasia. The Church's prohibition of these "is now dated," he said.

"To quote a parable of Jesus, today we do not have a lost sheep and the other 99 in the enclosure, but the opposite. People realize that these are outdated things," said Mignani, arguing for a change in Catholic teaching.

"I have a dream: that one day the acceptance of homosexual love would be said by a Pope," Mignani declared. "How powerful would it be?"

Sources

Religion News

Life Site News

The ceremonies were, in part, a response to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's recent instruction forbidding such blessings and reiterating the Church's traditional teaching regarding marriage and homosexual acts.

Evidently, the ceremonies were performed mostly in more liberal German parishes and shunned in more conservative areas, an indication of deepening disunity. Conservative Catholic commentators praised the CDF's actions and characterized the blessings as schismatic.

But then the prefect of the CDF turned his attention to the United States.

A number of American bishops want the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to issue a statement urging that President Joe Biden be denied Communion because of his support for legal abortion and same-sex marriage.

Much to the outrage of many of the same conservative Catholics who praised the Vatican for holding firm on sexual morality, Rome threw cold water on the wisdom of such a statement.

Presumably, such a confrontational step would, like the blessing of same-sex marriages, undermine the unity of the bishops' conference and the larger Church.

It would also require approval from the pope, who has cautioned that an obsession with abortion politics divides and distracts the Church.

Conservative commentators deplored the Vatican's interference, denouncing Rome's supposed heavy hand in language one is more used to hearing from liberals.

During the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, conservative Catholics demanded complete fealty to the papacy and repeatedly urged the pope to rein in those they considered unorthodox.

The removal of the editor of America magazine, Thomas Reese, SJ, was one of the more notorious Vatican actions during those years.

But now that there's a pope with a very different style and message, conservatives have decided that many of the decisions coming from Rome warrant scepticism and resistance, not obedience.

You can call this intellectual inconsistency or hypocrisy, which in many instances it is.

But it is as common among so-called progressive Catholics as it is among conservative ones.

Predictably, there has been little criticism from progressives of the same-sex marriage blessings in Germany, even though those actions threaten the unity of the Church in the same way that the efforts of some American bishops to bar Biden from Communion do.

Whatever one's views on same-sex marriage, Catholics should be concerned that, while some find such gestures pastoral and compassionate, many others perceive them as signs of further fragmentation in the Church.

Those who work for change should recognize that how change comes about can be just as important as the change itself. Continue reading

• Paul Baumann is Commonweal's senior writer.
• Image: National Review

Even as Catholics in Germany plan a national protest against the Vatican's ban on blessing on same-sex couples, Bishop Georg Bätzing has insisted that the protestors "are not schismatics".

"Our bond with Rome and the Holy Father is very tight," said Bätzing, just days before the May 10 protest.

The nationwide protest event was organised after Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) made a decree stating that Church does not have the power to bless homosexual unions.

German Church leaders say the Vatican's ban on such blessings is unchristian because it openly excludes people based on their sexual orientation.

The CDF document was discussed at the country's ongoing "Synodal Way", which expressed disagreement.

Bishop Bätzing said blessing same-sex couples was one of many topics discussed at the Synodal Way's forum on sexual morality.

The multi-year process brings together bishops and lay people to discuss four main topics: the way power is exercised in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women.

The 60-year bishop said that the German Church started the "Synodal Way" in response to the clerical abuse and plummeting membership.

Record numbers of German Catholics have left the Church in recent years, with 272,771 people formally deserting it in 2019.

Bishops and cardinals outside of Germany have been increasingly critical of the debates in the country.

Retired Cardinals Camillo Ruini of Italy and George Pell of Australia are among those who have raised concern about the Synodal Way, which they fear is leading to a "de facto schism".

"There is a percentage of the German Church that seems to be resolutely heading in the wrong direction," said Pell, who currently resides in Rome.

Bishop Bätzing also commented on the debate in Germany over whether Protestants should be invited to receive Holy Communion in Catholic churches.

The Limburg bishop said that the current debate was not about a general invitation to Protestants to receive Communion, but rather about the Church's approach to individual non-Catholic Christians who wish to receive the Eucharist.

He said: "I personally respect such a decision and do not deny Communion when someone presents themselves who believes what we Catholics believe and desires to receive the Lord."

Sources

• La Croix International
• Catholic News Agency
• CathNews NZ Pacific

"I've been rather encouraged, and particularly surprised how much more unworriedly critical a vast number of people, including cardinals and bishops have been".

He's calling the Vatican's same-sex blessing statement "a shot in the foot".

James Alison spoke with Professor Thomas O'Loughlin, Fr Michael Kelly SJ, hosted by Dr Joe Grayland on Flashes of Insight.

He characterised the Vatican's document as a dialogue that is failing to be dialogical.

Alison says the Vatican's statement is an attempt to shut down ‘horizontal conversation' between people by introducing a ‘vertical directive'.

The Vatican is trying to place a trump card he claims.

"It is essentially saying you can't have this discussion because I'm, right".

In this way, the Vatican's same sex blessing statement is attempting to introduce a ‘vertical absolutism into a horizontal discussion'.

One of the issues at play making this dialogue difficult is the question of authority when it comes to Natural Law, Alison noted.

"I am assuming there is a good understanding" but it must be ‘delivered to us horizontally, as something reasonable to understand' he said.

Alison says it is difficult when people hold on to a particular understanding of Natural Law that is no longer reasonable to everybody's reason.

Professor Thomas O'Loughlin picked up on a false understanding of Natural Law that equates Natural Law with a law of physics, such as the Law of Gravity.

O'Loughlin points out that Natural Law is not a perfectly deductive system but an ‘ordinance of reason' that helps us ‘make sense of reality around us' he said.

Fr Kelly said that part of the problem with the Vatican's same sex blessing statement is the process of having an answer and searching for question to fit it.

James Alison and Pope Francis

James Alison is known for his firm but patient insistence on truthfulness in matters gay as an ordinary part of basic Christianity, and for his pastoral outreach in the same sphere.

‘In trouble' for his pastoral outreach, the Congregation for the Clergy dismissed him from the clerical state, forbidding him from teaching, preaching, or presiding.

However, on 2 July 2017, Pope Francis called Alison directly telling him, "I want you to walk with deep interior freedom, following the Spirit of Jesus. And I give you the power of the keys".

Alison understood from this that Pope Francis did not perceive the congregation's decision as binding; that he treated him as a priest giving him universal jurisdiction to hear confessions and preach, the two faculties traditionally associated with the power of the keys.

Alison noted that this was how Pope Francis had acted towards those he appointed as "Mercy Priests" During the 2016 Jubilee of Mercy.

This is the first of three conversations with James Alison at Flashes of Insight.

Flashes of Insight is a video conversation that began as a way of reflecting on Church liturgy during COVID.

To get part two and part three of these conversations and more, please either "Subscribe" on YouTube, or if you would like to part of a live audience in the future, sign up at Flashes of Insight.

A massive blessing service event called "Love wins, blessing service for lovers" has been scheduled for May 10, in direct opposition to Rome's chief doctrinal office.

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen said priests in his diocese will face no canonical consequence if they decide to bless gay and lesbian couples in the event.

"Love wins. Love is a blessing," says the website for the event. "People who love each other are blessed. On May 10th, 2021, we invite you to various places in Germany for blessing services.

"We don't want to exclude anyone. We celebrate the diversity of people's different life plans and love stories, and ask for God's blessings. Without any secrecy.

"On this page, you will find the services that take place. You can register for a service and send us a blessing."

Organizers also ask that on that day, Catholics in Germany use "creative symbols to make visible how many people in the Church perceive the colorful diversity of different life plans and love stories of people as an enrichment and a blessing."

Bishop Overbeck argued on Easter that there are "many blessings for gay couples" in Germany. He also said that the Catholic Church is not supposed to reject gay people. But it should "find ways for homosexuals to be able to live together."

Overbeck's stance is in direct opposition to a statement released by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on March 15 with papal approval.

The document, technically an answer to a question posed to the CDF, argues that the Church cannot bless same-sex unions because "God does not bless sin."

The response caused division both among the faithful and the hierarchy. This was highlighted in Germany, which is currently undergoing a synodal path to address the Church's response to clerical sexual abuse. At the same time, it is reviewing Church teaching on human sexuality, priestly celibacy and the ban on ordaining women into the priesthood.

While many bishops oppose the CDF's response, several high-ranking German prelates support the response. The group includes Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne; Bishop Stephan Burger of Freiburg; and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg.

Sources

Crux Now

Reuters

They then let it be known that they can't discuss something with you … because they are locked in a small room. And their justification takes the form: "Can't because we say we can't because we said we can't".

This act of communication is called a "tantrum".

It is not meant to educate you about anything. Other, accidentally, than the self-importance of its perpetrator and their circular grasp of logic.

It is meant to interrupt whatever you were doing, play on your emotions and try to exercise power over you.

It demands the end of the dialogical and the imposition of the absolute. The kind of absolutism we associate with angry infants.

Luckily, as adults know, a tantrum only has the power over you that you give it.

I say this not to insult the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose senior members surely know the communication games they are playing with the German Synod.

I say it to offer protection to people who are hurt and scandalised by their responsum to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex.

For when you perceive that something is a tantrum, you are less likely to be hurt by anything said by the tantrum thrower. Less likely to think it has anything to do with you.

More aware that a self-fuelling delusion is at work.

Having said that, the CDF responsum does seem to follow the tantrum model of capricious "educatio interrupta".

It produces a self-provoked question, and gives a self-referential answer. One which it hopes will be an act of power, not an act of dialogue.

Then it justifies itself with circular logic: from an apriori deduction of the presumed intrinsic heterosexuality of all humans, the CDF assumes an objectively disordered tendency and intrinsically evil acts to be at work in both partners in a same-sex relationship, and so reaches the only conclusion that it can.

And it quotes itself extensively to prove it.

And this is their sadness: our brethren (sic) are locked into an account of objectivity which bears passing little relationship to the reality of creation as we are coming to know it and participate in it.

And they will be so locked until either a pope or a council sets them free from running around on this treadwheel, gives them formal permission to move on.

A key question behind moving on from tantrum teaching is this: How is divine wisdom in fact, and in practice, revealing the intelligibility of all created things to us and turning us, by our active and intelligent participation in that creative wisdom, into daughters and sons of God, heirs to creation?

Our learning over the last hundred years or so about the matters we now refer to as LGBT+ serve as a good test case for how we might begin to answer this.

Where frightened morality tries to close things down, wisdom, starting from our rejects, opens up the reality of what is, as we undergo being forgiven for our narrow goodness and hard-heartedness, sifting through our fears and delusions. And so we discover our neighbours as ourselves, and how we are loved.

Only a theological anthropology of learning that accompanies how we do, in fact, learning can help with this. Not one which demands a series of deductions from presumed first principles, and then discards the bits of reality that don't fit.

And so to the matter of blessings given to, received and shared by, same-sex couples: Our Lord teaches us to know a tree by its fruit.

He provokes our learning process. And it leads us to find things to bless, forms of blessedness old and new.

The power and the glory of the Creator do tend to show themselves through our becoming, as we discern what we are for and who we are.

It is a learning which is especially blessed when we find ourselves being forgiven for having categorised groups of people in false ways, and discovering that life is richer and better for all of us when they are encouraged to be who they are.

The CDF, faced with the same tree and its fruit, assures us that because it is the wrong sort of tree, therefore the fruit must be bad.

That is not a learning process.

It is a holding to a restrictive sacred which sets its brandishers free from the need to learn.

I'm very glad that so many Catholics are dodging the tantrum and hewing to Our Lord.

The responsum is unlikely to dissuade us from blessing God as we find God blessing us.

• James Alison is a Catholic theologian, priest and author. He has studied, lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Spain and the United States as well as his native England. James earned his doctorate in theology from the Jesuit Faculty in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1994 and is a systematic theologian by training.
• First published in English by The Tablet. Republished with permission of the author.

The CDF Responsum said priests could not give blessings to same-sex unions because "God cannot bless sin".

The statement has caused an outcry from LGBT+ Catholics and their supporters.

The sources who spoke with America Magazine did not wish to be identified as they were not authorized to comment.

They noted that when commenting on the Gospel of the day, which recounts that some Greeks wanted "to see Jesus," Pope Francis said many people today also want to see, to meet and to know Jesus.

"We Christians and our communities" have "the great responsibility" to make this possible by "the witness of a life that is given in service, a life that takes upon itself the style of God: closeness, compassion and tenderness," Francis said.

He explained that this "means sowing seeds of love, not with fleeting words but through concrete, simple and courageous examples; not with theoretical condemnations but with gestures of love."

He added that "then the Lord, with his grace, makes us bear fruit, even when the soil is dry due to misunderstandings, difficulty or persecution or claims of legalism or clerical moralism.

"This is barren soil.

"Precisely then, in trials and in solitude, while the seed is dying, that is the moment in which life blossoms, to bear ripe fruit in due time."

He followed up the comments on Tuesday, calling on Catholic moral theologians, missionaries and confessors to follow the example of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the famous moral theologian and founder of the Redemptorists, who showed how "to keep together the demands of the Gospel and human fragility."

He invited them, following the example of the saint and bishop, "to enter into a living relationship with the members of God's people and to look at life from their perspective in order to understand the real difficulties they encounter and to help heal their wounds."

Moral theology, the pope said, cannot be only about principles and formulations, but must respond to the reality of the person in need, "because knowledge of theoretical principles alone, as St. Alphonsus himself reminds us, is not enough to accompany and sustain consciences in discerning the good to be done."

Earlier, on eve of the Feast of St Joseph, Francis urged student priests of Rome's Belgian Pontifical College to learn the art of fatherhood from St. Joseph.

"Saint Joseph is a welcoming father" who set aside his legitimate personal plans and loved and welcomed Mary and Jesus with faith, in a vision of a family life quite different from what he might have wished for.

In this regard, he is a master of spiritual life and discernment, who welcomes what happens in life.

As a shepherd, the Pope said, a priest always stays with his flock, sometimes in front to open the way, at times in the middle to encourage, or behind to gather the last ones.

Without being rigid, an attentive guardian, he said, is ready to change as situations require, always understanding the needs of his flock and avoiding the opposite temptations of domination and carelessness.

Sources

• America Magazine
• America Magazine
• Vatican News

The decree, issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on March 15, states, "It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage."

For some, the new decree may result in whiplash, coming less than five months after the pope made headlines in a documentary film for once more affirming his support of civil union laws for same-sex couples.

For others, it's further affirmation of the church's teaching that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."

But for all, it's another tricky move in Francis' tightrope walk of upholding church teaching, while also trying to extend a warmer welcome to LGBTQ persons.

What and whom may a priest bless and why?

A priest can bless a house, an automobile and a pet; the 400-page Book of Blessings, which is both approved by the Vatican and local bishops' conferences, even includes prayers for fishing gear, boats and athletic fields.

Among the objects and persons that can be blessed by priests are gay individuals — but with a caveat.

According to the new decree, a priest can bless a person who happens to be gay, but they must "manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching."

The same conditions apply to "any union that involves sexual activity outside of marriage."

"This is a version of the old tried-and-true 'love the sinner, but hate the sin' mentality that shows up not only in Roman Catholicism but in other Christian denominations," said Patrick Hornbeck, professor of theology at Fordham University.

"The comparison would be the priest can bless the car, but the priest can't bless the car that he knows is going to be used in a bank robbery," Hornbeck told NCR.

"Here, what the Vatican is saying is by the very nature of who LGBTQ people are, their bodies and their selves are such that they cannot be blessed in relationship with one another."

What's behind the timing of this decree?

"It seems to be the Vatican's response to some German bishops who had floated this idea in the lead-up to their country's synod, as a way of reaching out to LGBTQ people," Jesuit Fr. James Martin, a leading advocate for improving the church's ministry toward LGBTQ Catholics, told NCR.

The German Catholic Church's "Synodal Path" is a two-year process aiming to tackle neuralgic church issues, such as women's leadership and the inclusion of LGBTQ persons.

In 2019, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, deputy chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, said that he is "sure that the category of blessing will play a role" in the synodal process.

Bode, who has previously supported an open debate on blessings of same-sex unions, has said, "We must not always treat homosexuality from the point of view of serious sin."

Similarly, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who serves on Francis' council of cardinal advisers, has said that gay couples can receive a blessing from the church "in the sense of pastoral care," though he sought to distinguish it from the same blessing the church offers to married couples, saying, "The sacrament of marriage is aimed at a faithful relationship between a man and a woman that is open to children." Continue reading