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CV NEWS FEED // During an audience with members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) Pope Francis offered additional clarifications on how to interpret Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican document that expanded blessings to couples in “irregular situations,” including “same-sex couples” in certain circumstances.
Francis on Friday received all members of the Vatican’s top teaching office as they concluded their annual general assembly. At the end of a speech, he addressed the confusion surrounding the DDF document. Fiducia Supplicans has faced significant pushback worldwide.
After explaining the role of the DDF in promoting a “new evangelization,” Francis said that “in this context of evangelization I also mention the recent Declaration Fiducia supplicans.”
“The intent of the ‘pastoral and spontaneous blessings’ is to concretely show the closeness of the Lord and the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask for help to carry forward – sometimes to begin – a journey of faith,” Francis said.
“I would like to briefly underline two things: the first is that these blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, do not require moral perfection to be received,” he continued:
The second [is] that when a couple spontaneously approaches to ask for it, the union is not blessed, but simply the people who have requested it together. Not the union, but the people, naturally taking into account the context, the sensitivities, the places in which one lives and the most suitable ways to do so.