CV NEWS FEED // Bishops from the Eastern-Rite Chaldean Church have formally rejected the principles contained in Fiducia Supplicans, a December 2023 Vatican directive that authorized blessings for same-sex couples.
Joining other Eastern Catholic churches, such as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey, the Chaldean Bishops recently decided at their annual synod in Baghdad that blessings for same-sex couples would not be permitted within the rite.
The Chaldean Synod first published initial conclusions on the Patriarchate of Bahdgad’s website on July 19, in which it addressed grave concerns related to ongoing conflicts throughout the Middle East.
However, on July 22, the Synod published another statement in Arabic, in which it announced its decision to forbid blessings for same-sex couples. The statement does not explicitly mention Fiducia Supplicans, but it deals directly with its contents.
“As for the union of homosexuals (two people of the same sex), they adopted the following decision,” the statement reads:
The Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world does not consider the union of homosexuals to be a marriage, because it considers the marriage between a male and a female to be the correct legal marriage for building a family, and refuses to bless the union of homosexuals, in order to preserve the sanctity of marriage, which is one of the seven sacraments.
Eastern churches (both those in and out of communion with Rome) have largely rejected the controversial Vatican document, which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith released on the heels of the Synod on Synodality last year.
As CatholicVote previously reported, the Coptic Orthodox Church rejected Fiducia Supplicans in March, “after consultation with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family.” The church further suspended theological dialogue with Rome, stating that it would need to “establish new standards and mechanisms,” for the relationship to be restored.
