Vatican says no heresy in allowing blessings for same-sex couples after pushback by some bishops
After pushback by some bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere, the Vatican on Thursday defended the recent move by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there is nothing “heretical” involved.
In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy expressed understanding that some bishops’ conferences need more time for “pastoral reflection” on the pontiff’s formal approval for such blessings.
But “there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally” from the Declaration about the blessings “or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church or blasphemous,’' said the statement by the office, formally called the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The new rule of blessings came last month in the form of a declaration, an important Catholic church document.
Look, the doctrine of papal infallibility means that by definition this is anything but heretical, and any who don't like it can go and form their own church with blackjack and hookers.
Yeah this is one thing that's been irritating me.
I had friends in highschool who were catholic, one even got about 75% toward being a priest, and they always said whatever the pope says is catholic "law" (not their word, but I can't remember the words they said exactly)
Now suddenly the pope can be wrong? What changed? The bible certainly didn't....
They were idiots? I’m older than most of y’all and Catholic School always taught that the Pope is infallible in matters of doctrine. If your friends only listened to the first half, that’s on them
Papal infallibility only applies when he speaks ex cathedra, this is, explicitely defining doctrine, which wasn't the case here. Read more.
Regardless, if you want an actual unfallible argument as for why homosexual unions should not be denied blessings on the basis of them being gay, is that it takes a bigoted moron to oppose gay marriage. No need to cater to delusions that are only given value when they reaffirm preexisting bigotry.
I am not an expert on this stuff but I thought it wasn't anything he said it is only if he says the magic phrase before saying something.
So if you bless a same-sex couple you just have to say 'no heresy' afterwards???
Or one of the couple can say "no homo" before, I guess.
This will not lead to anything good neither for LGBTQ organizations (which simply don't care of the Pope's pronouncements as they never did before) nor for Christianity which is already splitting around this issue. You can't change your mind like that if you are the head of a great institution: obviously your former followers will be confused, especially after you insisted that you held the only unchangeable truth for centuries. Personally I belong to the group of people who don't care much about what the Pope says and do not consider him a moral reference, but I'm seeing the reaction this is having in Italy where politics, economy and religion are tightly coupled.
That’s bs. Obviously you’re welcome to choose your own path, regardless of what some guy in a white hat says, but the Catholic Church has been on a [very slow] March toward acceptance for at least the last half century. Any organization can change and evolve, and the current pope is notable for increased acceptance and compassion for all people … maybe not as quickly as most of us prefer but it can and is happening.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
ROME (AP) — After pushback by some bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere, the Vatican on Thursday defended the recent move by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there is nothing “heretical” involved.
In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy expressed understanding that some bishops’ conferences need more time for “pastoral reflection” on the pontiff’s formal approval for such blessings.
“Prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different methods of application” of the new blessings rule, “but not a total or definitive denial of this path that it proposed to priests,” Thursday’s statement said.
Zambian bishops said there should be “further reflection” on the blessings and cited the country’s laws against homosexuality and its “cultural heritage” that rejects same-sex relationships as reasons for its decision.
The statement was signed off by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, an Argentine prelate who is a theological adviser to Francis.
It concluded by saying that in some places, some “catechesis will be necessary that can help everyone to understand that these types of blessings are not an endorsement of the life led by those who request them” nor an “absolution, as these gestures are far from being a sacrament or a rite.”
The original article contains 646 words, the summary contains 213 words. Saved 67%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!