“Pope Francis opened the door Monday for some Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions, hinting at a reversal of the official Vatican position that has put it at odds with many of its own progressive followers,” reports NBC News.
There were caveats, including they should not be seen as equivalent to heterosexual wedding ceremonies.
As recently as 2021, the Vatican said it could not condone same-sex unions because “God cannot bless sin.” But on Monday, Francis signaled that there could be exceptions to that stance.
“We cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude,” the Pope said in a letter to five conservative cardinals who asked for clarity on the issue ahead of a major global gathering on the future of the Church that begins Wednesday.
LGBTQIA+++ Catholics see this as undoing the marginalization of their lifestyle. However, the church has for thousands of years condemned sex outside of marriage. He is dismantling a primary church teaching.
WEAKENING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE?
The Pope’s own words are unequivocal: the Catholic Church, under his pontificate, is relaxing its stance on same-sex couples a letter released by the Vatican today, stating that priests can ultimately use discretion in blessing members of the LGBTQ community so long as they don’t conflate the blessing with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage.
This step weakens the church’s long-standing approach to the issue, including a 2021 decree approved by the Pope prohibiting the blessing of same-sex couples.
His remarks were released by the Vatican today in response to a formal letter signed by five prominent Cardinals, including Cardinal Raymond Burke from the United States, asking for the Pope’s clarification on several hot-button issues.
The Cardinals, however, say the Pope’s responses did not directly address the issues presented, and they’re now submitting their inquiry in the form of yes or no questions.
Pope Francis is taking a major step this week in pushing arguably the most progressive legacy of any Pope as members of a major church Synod and the Pope are called together in Vatican City to debate new changes that could rock the ancient faith.
The church has always viewed any sexual relations outside of marriage as sinful, and now church conservatives like Cardinal Burke and other traditionalists say blessing LGBTQ members is not a matter of acceptance but altering the very doctrine of the Christian faith.
Pope Francis says homosexuality is a sin, not a crime, and alternate blessings may be possible.
It’s already being done in Germany and other European countries.
THE SYNOD
The Synod will discuss this very issue this month and bring it to a vote in 2024, at which point Pope Francis will have the sole discretion of rejecting or accepting potentially transformative changes.
The Catholic Church is beginning to go off the rails. The Pope is deliberately confusing on something as basic as sexuality—no sex outside of marriage.
Some are saying that when the Pope does something like this, he sends the message that nothing means anything and everything can change tomorrow. He’s swaying from the biblical teachings of relationships between men and women. He’s going to look the other way. It’s the camel’s nose under the tent.
What do you think?
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