[Note: I'm posting this opinion piece that I found online which doesn't align with the interpretation of most "Catholic" prelates out there. I believe this makes the most sense for me as someone who bears the heavy cross of same-sex attraction and yet striving to be truly faithful to what Holy Mother Church has always taught and preached. Please pray for the grace of discernment and conversion for a world that is sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of confusion and darkness.]
𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨 – 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 – 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨.
We are dismayed by the declaration 𝙁𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙨 of the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the question of blessings for “couples in an irregular situation and couples of the same sex”. Especially since this document was signed by the Pope himself.
Although it purports to avoid any confusion between the blessing of such illegitimate unions and that of a marriage between a man and a woman, this declaration avoids neither confusion nor scandal: not only does it teach that a minister of the Church can call down God’s blessing on sinful unions, but by doing so, it actually reinforces these situations of sin.
The call for such a ‘blessing’ would consist only of asking for these people, in a non-liturgical framework, that “all that is true, good and humanly valuable in their lives and in their relationships be invested, healed and elevated by the presence of the Holy Ghost”.
But to make those who live in a fundamentally flawed union believe that the same could have any positive value is the worst kind of deception, and the most serious lack of charity towards these lost souls. It is wrong to imagine that there is anything good in a situation of public sin, and it is wrong to claim that God can bless couples living in such a situation.
Doubtless, every man can be helped by the prevenient mercy of God, and discover with confidence that he is called to convert in order to receive the salvation that God offers him. And Holy Church never refuses a blessing to sinners who legitimately ask for it: but then, this blessing has no other object than to help the soul to overcome sin in order to live in a state of grace.
Holy Church can therefore bless any individual, even a pagan. But never, in any way, can it bless a union that is sinful in itself, under the pretext of encouraging what is good in it.
When we bless a couple, we do not bless isolated individuals: we necessarily bless the relationship that unites them. However, we cannot redeem an intrinsically bad and scandalous reality.
Such encouragement to proceed pastorally with these blessings leads in practice, inexorably, to the systematic acceptance of situations incompatible with the moral law, whatever else is said.
This unfortunately corresponds to the assertions of Pope Francis, who defines as “superficial and naive” the attitude of those who force people to behave “in a way for which they are not yet mature, or of which they are not capable [1]."
This idea, which no longer believes in the power of grace and rejects the cross, does not help anyone avoid sin. It replaces true forgiveness and true mercy with a sadly impotent amnesty. And only accelerates the loss of souls and the destruction of Catholic morality.
All the convoluted language and sophistical dressing up of the document of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith cannot hide the elementary and obvious reality of these blessings: they will do nothing more than reinforce these unions in their intrinsically sinful situation, and encourage others to follow them. This will merely be a substitute for Catholic marriage.
In fact, it manifests a profound lack of faith in the supernatural, in the grace of God and the strength of the cross to live in virtue, in purity and in charity, in accordance with the will of God.
It is a naturalistic and defeatist spirit that loosely aligns itself with the spirit of the world, the enemy of God. This is one more surrender and subjugation to the world, on the part of the liberal and modernist hierarchy, which since the Second Vatican Council has been at the service of the Revolution inside and outside the church.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, guardian of faith and holiness, come to the aid of the Holy Church. May she especially protect those most exposed to this chaos: children, now forced to grow up in a new Babylon, without reference points or a guide that reminds them of the moral law.
Don Davide Pagliarani
Superior General
Menzingen, 19th December 2023
[1] Pope Francis, Interview with the Jesuits at Lisbon, 5th August 2023.
