mississippicatholic.com
JANUARY 12, 2024
Cardinal says Vatican is not moving toward accepting gay marriage By ciNDy WooDeN
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican's affirmation that a priest can give an informal blessing to a gay couple who asks for one is not a first step toward the Catholic Church recognizing same-sex marriages, said Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. "Those who say so either have not read the text or have 'bad blood,' if you will pardon the expression. The statement clearly and ad nauseam states that these blessings are non-ritualized so that they are not interpreted as a marriage," the cardinal told the Spanish newspaper ABC in an interview published Dec. 25. The doctrinal dicastery's document, "Fiducia Supplicans" ("Supplicating Trust"), which was approved by Pope Francis, said that while the church "remains firm" in teaching that marriage is only a life-long union between a man and a woman, in certain circumstances priests can give non-sacramental, non-liturgical blessings to "couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the church's perennial teaching on marriage." Several bishops' conferences in Africa and elsewhere reacted strongly against the document, which was published Dec. 18, and issued statements forbidding their priests from offering such blessings. While Cardinal Fernández insisted the document "upholds with great clarity and simplicity the Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality," he said bishops have a right and duty to advise their priests on the possible use of such blessings. "What they (African bishops) raise is the inappropriateness of performing blessings that could easily be confused with a legitimization of an irregular union in their regional contexts," he said.
In addition, he said, several African nations have laws that "penalize with imprisonment the mere fact of declaring oneself gay," so it would be difficult to imagine a priest in those countries giving a gay couple a blessing. "In reality," the cardinal said, "it is up to each local bishop to make this discernment in his diocese or in any case to give further guidance." In other situations, Cardinal Fernández said, people reacting negatively to the document simply did not read it. "The central theme of the document is the value of 'non-liturgical,' 'non-ritualized' blessings, which are not a marriage, they are not an 'approval' or a ratification of anything," he said. "They are simply the response of a pastor to two people who ask for God's help. And, in this case, the pastor does not set any conditions." Blessing two people who ask for God's help is not accepting their relationship as a marriage, "nor is it a ratification of the life they lead, nor is it an absolution," the cardinal said. "It is a simple gesture of pastoral closeness that does not have the same demands that a sacrament has." "If a priest gives this kind of simple blessing, he is not a heretic, he is not ratifying anything, nor is he denying the Catholic doctrine on marriage," Cardinal Fernández said.
– Read a statement from Bishop Joseph Kopacz on "Fiducia Supplicans" on page 6 – Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, leaves the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall after a working session of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops with Pope Francis at the Vatican Oct. 6, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Late Pope Benedict remembered on first anniversary of his death By ciNDy WooDeN
lived with and served. Looking at how prayer was an essential part of the life of Mary and Joseph, VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As an expression of ongoing affection and gratitude for the late Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis led tens of thousands of people in St. Pe- Archbishop Gänswein quoted Pope Benedict's last Angelus address, just days before ter's Square in a round of applause for his predecessor on the first anniversary of his resignation went into effect, when he explained: "The Lord is calling me 'to scale the mountain,' to devote myself even more to his death. "A year ago, Pope Benedict XVI concluded his earthly journey after having prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the church; indeed, if served the church with love and wisdom," Pope Francis told an estimated 20,000 – Continued on page 6 – people gathered in the square for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer Dec. 31. Pope Benedict, who led the church from 2005 to 2013, INSIDE THIS WEEK died Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95. "We feel so much affection, gratitude and admiration for him," the pope said. "From heaven, he blesses and accompanies us." Before the Angelus, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict's former personal secretary, presided over a memorial Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica. German Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, concelebrated the liturgy. In his homily, the archbishop shared some of Pope Annual Report 9 Youth 14 New seminarian 4 Benedict's meditations on the readings for the day's View the diocese annual Youth photos from schools Joe Pearson accepted as feast, the feast of the Holy Family. Several times his report in this special insert and parishes new seminarian for diocese voice broke with emotion remembering the pope he