Pope’s Directive on Same-Sex Blessings Emphasizes Persons, Not Unions, Theologians Say
Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 4:49 pm
Over the last 20 or so years, I've realised that I had a kind of attitude towards gay people that did not recognise the dignity of the person. (There's much discussion going on at the moment about what 'dignity' actually is) So I completely get what Pope Francis is reinforcing with these definitions and how they aren't just semantics. They are essential for our Christian spirituality.
Theologians who have studied the Pope’s response told the Register that immediate media reactions miss the mark and don’t accurately capture what the Pope did — and didn’t — say.
In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 2 publication of a text from Pope Francis responding to questions about same-sex blessings, media sought to portray the Pope’s message as a radical break from Church teaching and practice.
“Pope Francis opens possibility for blessing same-sex unions,” declared ABC News, running with a headline that was typical of how mainstream media described the Pope’s responses to dubia submitted by five cardinals earlier in the summer.
However, theologians who have studied the Pope’s response told the Register that these immediate media reactions miss the mark and don’t accurately capture what the Pope did — and didn’t — say.
One central critique: that the Pope’s focus was not on same-sex unions, but instead on same-sex-attracted persons who may be in some kind of same-sex relationship. In fact, although the question the Pope was responding to explicitly referred to “blessing same-sex unions,” the Pope’s response never spoke of “unions.” Instead, the Pope wrote of possible blessings for “one or more persons,” a subtle but significant distinction, theologians told the Register.
“It seems to me that the Holy Father has in mind the possibility of praying with an individual or with a couple who experience same-sex attraction,” said Father Thomas Berg, a professor of moral theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, New York. “He envisions, on a case-by-case basis, a priest using ‘pastoral prudence’ to determine what — if anything — it would be prudent for him to do in response to a request for ‘a blessing.’”
David Cloutier, a moral theologian at The Catholic University of America, likewise emphasized the Pope’s focus on persons.
“It’s certainly not what some have suggested, a blessing of the union’s ‘holy love’ as a ‘mirror of God’s’ love,” said Cloutier, referring to a description of the Pope’s statement by New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ organization not recognized or approved by the Catholic Church. “Unless Francis comes out and says you should bless the union explicitly, he’s talking about persons,” Cloutier said.
Cloutier also said that the Pope’s message was consistent with his “all pastoral, all the time” approach and said that Francis seemed to have in mind the kind of blessing a priest might give when invited over to a gay couple’s house for dinner.
“Clearly the object of the blessing is the persons,” he said, “and you can obviously bless two persons together.”
In explaining why the distinction between persons and unions matters, John Froula, a professor of dogmatic theology at St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity in Minnesota, pointed to the Vatican’s March 2021 guidance on whether the Church could bless same-sex unions. In the response, which was approved by the Pope, the Vatican underscored that blessings of “particular human relationships” can only bless realities that are “objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord.”
“For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of unions between persons of the same-sex,” the guidance reads.
While blessing a union “also implies approving it,” Froula said that “blessing people does not imply approval of everything they are doing.”
“It is asking for God’s grace through the Church’s special mediation,” he said. “In fact, someone might seek a blessing precisely to overcome some sin or temptation.”
The full article can be read here... https://www.ncregister.com/news/pope-s- ... ogians-say
Theologians who have studied the Pope’s response told the Register that immediate media reactions miss the mark and don’t accurately capture what the Pope did — and didn’t — say.
In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 2 publication of a text from Pope Francis responding to questions about same-sex blessings, media sought to portray the Pope’s message as a radical break from Church teaching and practice.
“Pope Francis opens possibility for blessing same-sex unions,” declared ABC News, running with a headline that was typical of how mainstream media described the Pope’s responses to dubia submitted by five cardinals earlier in the summer.
However, theologians who have studied the Pope’s response told the Register that these immediate media reactions miss the mark and don’t accurately capture what the Pope did — and didn’t — say.
One central critique: that the Pope’s focus was not on same-sex unions, but instead on same-sex-attracted persons who may be in some kind of same-sex relationship. In fact, although the question the Pope was responding to explicitly referred to “blessing same-sex unions,” the Pope’s response never spoke of “unions.” Instead, the Pope wrote of possible blessings for “one or more persons,” a subtle but significant distinction, theologians told the Register.
“It seems to me that the Holy Father has in mind the possibility of praying with an individual or with a couple who experience same-sex attraction,” said Father Thomas Berg, a professor of moral theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, New York. “He envisions, on a case-by-case basis, a priest using ‘pastoral prudence’ to determine what — if anything — it would be prudent for him to do in response to a request for ‘a blessing.’”
David Cloutier, a moral theologian at The Catholic University of America, likewise emphasized the Pope’s focus on persons.
“It’s certainly not what some have suggested, a blessing of the union’s ‘holy love’ as a ‘mirror of God’s’ love,” said Cloutier, referring to a description of the Pope’s statement by New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ organization not recognized or approved by the Catholic Church. “Unless Francis comes out and says you should bless the union explicitly, he’s talking about persons,” Cloutier said.
Cloutier also said that the Pope’s message was consistent with his “all pastoral, all the time” approach and said that Francis seemed to have in mind the kind of blessing a priest might give when invited over to a gay couple’s house for dinner.
“Clearly the object of the blessing is the persons,” he said, “and you can obviously bless two persons together.”
In explaining why the distinction between persons and unions matters, John Froula, a professor of dogmatic theology at St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity in Minnesota, pointed to the Vatican’s March 2021 guidance on whether the Church could bless same-sex unions. In the response, which was approved by the Pope, the Vatican underscored that blessings of “particular human relationships” can only bless realities that are “objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord.”
“For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of unions between persons of the same-sex,” the guidance reads.
While blessing a union “also implies approving it,” Froula said that “blessing people does not imply approval of everything they are doing.”
“It is asking for God’s grace through the Church’s special mediation,” he said. “In fact, someone might seek a blessing precisely to overcome some sin or temptation.”
The full article can be read here... https://www.ncregister.com/news/pope-s- ... ogians-say