All posts tagged: gay blessings

‘There are still so many things to do,’ Pope says in new memoir amid resignation rumors

‘There are still so many things to do,’ Pope says in new memoir amid resignation rumors

Published by Sam

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a new memoir, Pope Francis tells his story through the historical moments that punctuated his life, from the Second World War to Sept. 11, and examines how those events ultimately impacted his pontificate. The book, titled “Life: My Story Through History,” is being published by Harper Collins in Europe and in the United States on March 19, marking the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ tenure as head of the Catholic Church. While the pope has published autobiographies before, this memoir, based on the pope’s conversations with Vatican journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, illustrates the profound influence world events have had on Francis. From the horrors of the Holocaust to the dropping of the atomic bomb, from the injustices of McCarthyism to the fall of the Berlin Wall, historical events shaped the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, forging his priorities as a religious leader. As the 87-year-old pope looks back on his life in the book, he also addresses his ailing health and old age. “I have never had reason to think …

Before tackling troublesome issues, Pope Francis insists on synodality

Before tackling troublesome issues, Pope Francis insists on synodality

Published by Sam

(RNS) — After raising expectations with his Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis is punting on a number of controversial issues that the synod process invited lay Catholics to raise. When the next session of the synod meets this October, the topics of married priests and same-sex blessings will be off the table, while the possibility of women deacons will be assigned to study groups. In effect, Francis is leaving his successor to resolve what he started. The Synod on Synodality has been a three-year consultive process, gathering input from listening sessions all over the world. The synod’s first meeting in Rome, which for the first time allowed lay men and women to vote alongside bishops, met last October in groups of 10 at roundtables for “conversations in the Spirit,” in which everyone had an equal voice. In November, the report on the October session gave recommendations to the pope and called for further research and discussion of certain topics. On March 14, the General Secretariat of the Synod gave the pope’s response to the synod’s report, …

Pope Francis says ‘everyone will calm down’ about same-sex blessings

Pope Francis says ‘everyone will calm down’ about same-sex blessings

Published by Sam

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a lengthy interview published in an Italian newspaper on Monday (Jan. 29), Pope Francis made his most expansive remarks on the Vatican’s recent declaration allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, dismissing those who oppose the decision as a vocal minority. Conservatives have harshly criticized the declaration on blessings, “Fiducia Supplicans,” issued by the church’s Department for the Doctrine of the Faith in late December. An organization of Catholic bishops in Africa, where homosexuality is in some places persecuted, issued a statement saying that African priests will not be blessing same-sex couples. But the pope said the African bishops’ objection “is a separate case” due to the culture in many African countries that views homosexuality negatively. “Those who protest vehemently belong to small ideological groups,” he told the Italian daily La Stampa.  “In general, I trust that everyone will gradually calm down on the spirit of the declaration,” Francis said, “which wishes to include, not divide.” He said several times that everyone should feel welcomed in the church. “We are all …

Pope Francis’ synod made few waves, but organizers say it’s already changing the church

Pope Francis’ synod made few waves, but organizers say it’s already changing the church

Published by Sam

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis’ worldwide consultation of Catholics asking them how they would change the church, failed to yield the tangible results that many reformers had hoped for. A decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples, published months after the synod ended, barely advanced the practice, which has been going on for years in some parts of the church. The likelihood of women being ordained even as deacons seems as farfetched as ever. But the synod’s organizers at the Vatican say that the now three-year-old process is already changing the face of Catholicism. When hundreds of bishops and other clergy gathered in October with lay Catholics and a smattering of nuns at the Vatican, they took up an agenda drawn from the consultations in local parishes and dioceses, which showed that many people in the pews were concerned with some of the most controversial issues in the church, from LGBTQ inclusion to female ordination. The small group roundtables yielded boiling discussions, but the final document that emerged at the …

Vatican’s doctrine czar faces opposition for past and present decisions

Vatican’s doctrine czar faces opposition for past and present decisions

Published by Sam

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In his first few months as the head of the Vatican’s department in charge of Catholic doctrine, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández had already drawn criticism from conservative and liberal Catholics alike. And since the issuance of a papal decision to allow priests to give blessings to same-sex couples, the cardinal’s own past and writings are now being called into question. Pope Francis appointed Fernández to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in October, over the complaints of those who said Fernández, an Argentine like Francis, lacked the experience or credentials for the role. Francis, however, signaled his confidence in his new doctrine chief by handing him the red hat of a cardinal. After his appointment, Fernández quickly oversaw controversial pronouncements, one allowing transgender people to be baptized and act as godparents and another opening the door for women who had children out of wedlock to receive the Eucharist. The department once known for overseeing the Inquisition was suddenly seen as the advocate of acts long topping Catholics’ list …

Capitalizing on his teachings on sex, Pope Francis’ critics shame themselves

Capitalizing on his teachings on sex, Pope Francis’ critics shame themselves

Published by Sam

(RNS) — Having grown up in the 1950s, when sex was not an approved topic, I was in my late 20s before I knowingly had a conversation with someone who was gay. It was not until much later that someone explicitly told me that they were gay. Today in America, high schools have gay-straight alliances and you’d be hard-pressed to find a teenager who doesn’t know someone who identifies as gay or queer. Most of Africa’s Catholic bishops grew up in a culture like the one I grew up in, when being gay meant being in the closet. And they still live there. In many African countries, homosexual activity is still a crime, as it was in the West for most of the 20th century. It’s not surprising that the African bishops have rejected Pope Francis’ decision to greenlight the blessing of gay couples and others in relationships outside of marriage. On Thursday (Jan. 11), with the pope’s approval, they issued a statement saying, “We do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual …