{"id":36025,"date":"2023-12-31T03:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T03:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=36025"},"modified":"2024-01-02T02:20:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T02:20:50","slug":"pope-francis-approval-of-blessings-for-lgbtq-couples-is-a-historic-gesture-according-to-a-catholic-theologian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/pope-francis-approval-of-blessings-for-lgbtq-couples-is-a-historic-gesture-according-to-a-catholic-theologian\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis\u2019 approval of blessings for LGBTQ+ couples is a historic gesture, according to a Catholic\u00a0theologian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Steven P. Millies<\/a>, Catholic Theological Union<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis\u2019 Dec. 18, 2023, announcement<\/a> that Catholic priests may bless LGBTQ+ couples and others in \u201cirregular\u201d situations marks a definitive shift in the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s posture toward many types of loving relationships. It may also mark a definitive turning point within the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the last few years, Francis has made gesture<\/a> after gesture<\/a> indicating his desire to find a way for the Catholic Church to accompany and welcome people whose loving relationships do not fit into the church\u2019s sacramental understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, ordered toward procreation and ended only by death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has telegraphed for a long time<\/a> his desire to come to some new arrangement that would welcome loving relationships in the church without transforming the church\u2019s doctrine on marriage and sexuality all at once \u2013 the Dec. 18 declaration seems to do exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastoral emphasis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s be clear about what this new declaration is not. The declaration does not permit the marriage of LGBTQ+ couples, or couples where parties are divorced without annulment of the marriage. Neither does the declaration permit any recognition of a civil marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The declaration is specific that the blessing of relationships outside marriage must not be done in any way that might be confused with a marriage ceremony. In fact, the declaration encourages priests to be responsive to \u201cspontaneous<\/a>\u201d requests for a blessing, and it forbids the creation of \u201cprocedures or rituals<\/a>\u201d that would provide anything like a script for a blessing ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Same-sex couples take part in a Catholic public blessing ceremony in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023. AP Photo\/Martin Meissner<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still, the declaration is remarkable for what it does do. Sidestepping difficult doctrinal questions that divide Catholics<\/a>, the document\u2019s emphasis is pastoral \u2013 it is oriented toward caring for and ministering to people rather than teaching doctrine.
The word \u201cpastoral\u201d appears 20 times in the declaration. Francis\u2019 emphasis is unmistakable: The subject of the declaration is not marriage or sexual morality; the declaration is about something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What \u2018blessings\u2019 mean in the church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the declaration is about blessings and what they mean in the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long stretch of the document is devoted to defining and clarifying what the Roman Catholic Church means by the word \u201cblessing.\u201d Francis has said that<\/a> \u201cwhen one asks for a blessing, one is expressing a petition for God\u2019s assistance, a plea to live better, and a confidence in a Father who can help us live better.\u201d A blessing is an \u201cunconditional gift<\/a>\u201d that \u201cdescends<\/a>,\u201d while our human thanksgiving \u201cascends\u201d to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessings, in this pastoral sense, are events when our human dependence on God\u2019s mercy is expressed as a desire for closeness with God. God, in Catholic belief, responds through the church. \u201cIt is God who blesses<\/a>\u201d in these situations, Francis has written. God\u2019s blessing manifests through priests and ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Book of Blessings<\/a> provides formulas for everything from blessing a new home or a safe voyage to blessings for elderly people and seeds at planting time. Yet often enough in Catholic life, blessing is requested for an object like a rosary or Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When these desires for blessing arise spontaneously, the church\u2019s ministers always accommodate them. The church\u2019s doctrine says blessing is abundant and inexhaustible. \u201cSuch blessings are meant for everyone; no one is to be excluded from them,\u201d the Dec. 18 declaration says<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidestepping difficult issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These meanings of \u201cblessing\u201d are distinct from the blessing in the Rite of the Sacrament of Marriage, which is specific to the \u201cunion of a man and a woman, who establish an exclusive and indissoluble covenant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, within the scope of that much more broad, pastoral understanding of blessing, Francis has said with this declaration that blessing should not be withheld from LGBTQ+ couples or anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, the pope has sidestepped the more difficult doctrinal questions while still inviting all couples to present themselves for the blessings they desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the pope has not sidestepped the controversy. In recent decades, the Anglican Communion<\/a> and the Lutheran Church<\/a> have been roiled by controversy over LGBTQ+ acceptance. More recently, the Methodist Church<\/a> in the United States has split over the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholics are divided in a similar way, and this declaration is not likely to cool down divisions. In fact, I believe, those divisions will likely deepen \u2013 especially in the United States, where Catholic bishops have been tepid<\/a> in their response to the declaration and Francis has not been embraced enthusiastically<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet for now, the Roman Catholic Church has made a historic gesture of welcome that invites all people to experience the love of God in a community of believers devoted toward building up a more just and equitable world. \u201cThe Church is \u2026 the sacrament of God\u2019s infinite love,\u201d the declaration says<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis has been constant in that loving, pastoral emphasis. For as much as the Dec. 18 declaration has changed, it has not changed that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven P. Millies<\/a>, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological Union<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven P. Millies, Catholic Theological Union Pope Francis\u2019 Dec. 18, 2023, announcement that Catholic priests may bless LGBTQ+ couples and others in \u201cirregular\u201d situations marks a definitive shift in the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s posture toward many types of loving relationships. It may also mark a definitive turning point within the Roman Catholic Church. Across the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":36026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2450],"tags":[2753,2674,13076,314,4383,1979,6610,3759,15026,1157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36038,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36025\/revisions\/36038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}