The global fallout from the Vatican’s document on same sex blessings continues.
In Britain, 500 priests have signed a document expressing reservations about the document.
Cardinal Muller has also spoken strongly against the rulings, writing:
In light of this, can a faithful Catholic accept the teaching of FS? Given the unity of deeds and words in the Christian faith, one can only accept that it is good to bless these unions, even in a pastoral way, if one believes that such unions are not objectively contrary to the law of God. It follows that as long as Pope Francis continues to affirm that homosexual unions are always contrary to God's law, he is implicitly affirming that such blessings cannot be given. The teaching of FS is therefore self-contradictory and thus requires further clarification. The Church cannot celebrate one thing and teach another because, as St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote, Christ was the Teacher “who spoke and it was done” (Ephesians 15:1), and one cannot separate his flesh from his word.
Irish bishop Alan McGuckian SJ also released a statement on the crisis:
Meanwhile, Bishop Barron has drawn universal criticism for his statement:
In Malawi, priests have uploaded selfies to show their intention to disregard same sex blessings:
Cardinal Napier has said that the document misses the word ‘repent’:
Meanwhile, Bishop Marian Eleganti has written:
The so-called Magisterium of Francis, which is presented as something new and unprecedented in contrast to tradition, is a nonsensical conceptual creation by Card. Fernandez, because popes, like the bishops, are guardians of the Church's teaching and its unbroken tradition. Truths are eternal and do not change with the spirit of the times. The other way around: Popes and bishops do not bring anything of their own, but rather interpret the Church's constant faith along the lines of tradition without breaking with it. The fact remains that a sinful practice and connection cannot be blessed because it contradicts the order of creation or the will of God and in such a case the blessing can neither be given nor received fruitfully (cf. the justification in the responsum ad dubium of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Blessing of Unions of Persons of the Same Sex from 2021 under Card. Ladaria). The church has always taught that. Blessings without the right inner disposition of the giver and the recipient are ineffective because blessings do not work ex opere operato like the sacraments. They are sacramentals.
African bishops are currently drafting a consensus document on the issue:
Germany, of course, has seen Synodalist plans to use the document to institute formal blessings akin to gay marriages.
