New Doctrinal Prefect Addresses Blessings of Same-Sex Couples

CV NEWS FEED // Victor Manuel Fernandez, Pope Francis’ controversial new appointee to lead the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), attempted in a recent interview to clarify confusion over “same-sex” blessings.

Pope Francis has come under fire throughout his papacy for what critics call his more progressive views on homosexuality; however, he has continued to uphold Church teaching when faced with advocates for the blessing of same-sex unions.

In response to increased advocacy for the normalization of homosexual acts, the DDF published a document with papal approval in 2021, stating that “the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex.”

In direct defiance, bishops in Germany voted to “officially allow blessing ceremonies in their dioceses for couples who love each other but to whom sacramental marriage is not accessible or who do not see themselves at a point of entering into a sacramental marriage,” which includes same-sex couples. 

In an interview with InfoVaticana, a Spanish Catholic news agency, Fernandez was asked for his thoughts on the DDF document. He responded:

Look, just as I am firmly against abortion (and I challenge you to find someone in Latin America who has written more articles than me against abortion), I also understand that “marriage” in the strict sense is only one thing: that stable union of two beings as different as male and female are, who in that difference are capable of engendering new life. There is nothing that can be compared to that and to use that name to express something else is neither good nor correct.

On the blessing of same-sex couples, Fernandez said, 

At the same time, I believe that we must avoid gestures or actions that could express something different. That is why I think that the greatest care must be taken to avoid rites or blessings that could feed this confusion. Now, if a blessing is given in such a way that it does not cause that confusion, it will have to be analyzed and confirmed. As you will see, there is a point at which we leave a properly theological discussion and move on to a question that is rather prudential or disciplinary.

Fernandez’s statements generated more backlash from traditional Catholics. They also noted that he vaguely left room for homosexual blessings, since he seems to have said that if a blessing does not cause confusion about marriage being between one man and one woman, it could technically still be “analyzed and confirmed” to bless homosexual couples living in sin.

This interpretation would directly contradict Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which states that it is “not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage … as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex.” Amoris Laetitia also states that “since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit.”