Published December 24, 2023
ROME — American Archbishop Charles Chaput has sharply criticized Pope Francis for sowing confusion and ambiguity as well as for his “unjust” criticism of U.S. Catholics.
Confused teaching is “never excusable,” writes Chaput, the redoubtable former archbishop of Philadelphia, and the transmission of Christian truth “demands clarity and consistency.”
Deliberate or persistent ambiguity, on the contrary, “is not of God,” he adds, and it “inevitably results in damage to individual souls and to our common Church life.”
The archbishop’s essay, published in First Things under the title “The Cost of ‘Making a Mess,’” followed on the announcement that the Vatican had reversed its position on the blessing of gay couples, something the Church has never allowed in its 2000-year history.
This decision has resulted in massive confusion among the faithful, who cannot understand that “God cannot bless sin,” as a 2021 Vatican text affirmed, and yet suddenly he can bless homosexual couples, whose very identity is based on their sinful behavior.
The Vatican’s latest document “is a doubleminded exercise in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching on the nature of blessings and their application to ‘irregular’ relationships,” Archbishop Chaput notes.
“Whether the hearer is delighted or angered by the latest Vatican text, the practical fallout is a wave of confusion in the bloodstream of the Church at Christmas — a season meant for joy, but now tangled up with frustration, doubt, and conflict,” he writes.
To add insult to injury, the pope attributes pushback against the document to fearfully “sticking to rules,” rather than a genuine concern for the eternal good of the faithful.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.breitbart.com
RELATED: Some Catholic bishops reject Pope’s stance on blessings for same-sex couples
A Catholic prays at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church – Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Some Catholic bishops say they will not follow the Vatican’s new direction on allowing blessings for same-sex couples. Others have fiercely criticized it, with one bishop describing the new policy as a hidden “evil.”
Published December 23, 2023
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — In an extraordinary pushback against Pope Francis, some Catholic bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere say they will not implement the new Vatican policy allowing blessings for same-sex couples.
Others downplayed the policy approved this week by Francis as merely reaffirming the Vatican’s long-standing teaching about marriage being only a union between a man and a woman.
The reactions show how polarizing the issue remains and how Francis’ decade-long effort to make the church a more welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community continues to spark resistance among traditionalist and conservative Catholic leaders.
Some of the strongest responses came from bishops in Africa, home to 265 million Catholics, or nearly a quarter of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. Many of those Catholics live and their churches operate in societies where homosexuality is condemned and outlawed.
Out of the continent’s 54 countries, 31 have laws criminalizing homosexuality, more than any other continent, according to the Human Dignity Trust, which defends LGBTQ+ rights.
Zambia’s bishops conference said same-sex couple blessings were “not for implementation in Zambia.” The bishops conference of Malawi said “blessings of any kind” for “same-sex unions of any kind” would not be permitted.
In Zambia, gay sex is punishable by between 15 years and life in prison and the law puts it in the same section as bestiality. Malawi’s laws call for up to 14 years in prison for homosexual sex, with the option of corporal punishment for those convicted.
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.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.sunstar.com.ph
RELATED: After approving blessings for same-sex couples, Pope asks Vatican staff to avoid ‘rigid ideologies’
Pope Francis has urged Vatican bureaucrats to avoid “rigid ideological positions” that prevent them from understanding today’s reality
Published December 20, 2023
Pope Francis urged Vatican bureaucrats Thursday to avoid “rigid ideological positions” that prevent them from understanding today’s reality, an appeal made days after he formally allowed priests to bless same-sex couples in a radical change of Vatican policy.
Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Holy See hierarchy to encourage the cardinals, bishops and laypeople who run the Vatican to listen to one another and to others so they can evolve to truly offer service to the Catholic Church.
Speaking in the Hall of Blessings, Francis told them it was important to keep advancing and growing in their understanding of the truth. Fearfully sticking to rules may give the appearance of avoiding problems but only ends up hurting the service that the Vatican Curia is called to give the church, he said.
“Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that often, under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward,”the pope said. “We are called instead to set out and journey, like the Magi, following the light that always desires to lead us on, at times along unexplored paths and new roads.”
Francis’ annual appointment with members of the Vatican hierarchy came the same week he formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, as long as such blessings don’t give the impression of a marriage ceremony.
The approval, which Francis had hinted at earlier this year, reversed a 2021 policy by the Vatican’s doctrine office, which flat-out barred such blessings on the grounds that God “does not and cannot bless sin.”
The Vatican holds that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect but that sexual relations between people of the same sex is “intrinsically disordered.” Catholic teaching says that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.independent.co.uk
RELATED: Conservative Catholics Outraged, Confused After Pope Francis Letter On ‘Blessing’ Same-Sex Unions
Published October 4, 2023
Pope Francis has once again sparked immense controversy with his widely perceived liberalizing policies and ambiguity related to hotly contested moral issues, this time angering conservative Catholics by appearing to soften the Vatican’s longtime ban on blessing gay couples, as a Wall Street Journal headline revealed this week.
The shift has unleashed a significant degree of confusion within the Roman Catholic world, with some leading conservative clerics and pundits accusing Francis of paving the way for eventual full ‘recognition’ of same-sex unions.
“Pope Francis softened the Vatican’s ban on blessing same-sex couples, saying that priests may use their discretion in giving such blessings, so long as they don’t imply a same-sex union is equivalent to a heterosexual marriage,” the WSJ wrote Monday.
“The pope’s statement, in a letter released by the Vatican on Monday, marks a significant shift in the Catholic Church’s stance on blessing gay relationships. Its release comes on the eve of a major Vatican meeting that will consider possible changes to church teaching and practice on matters such as homosexuality and women’s ordination.” The letter was actually written in July in response to questions privately posed by a group of prominent Cardinals, but has only been revealed this week.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.zerohedge.com
