Post by purr on Dec 19, 2023 0:32:52 GMT
The Vatican on Monday issued formal, definitive permission for Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, as long as those benedictions are kept separate from marriage, a decree that amounts to an about-face after decades of discord between the LBGTQ+ community and the Catholic Church, which has long upheld that homosexuals are “disordered” and said any nod to their unions would be tantamount to blessing sin.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/18/same-sex-unions-vatican-pope/
FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS
How's your Latin? Mine sucks, but today's FS document issued by the Vatican, crystalizing earlier guidance and findings by Pope Francis mitigating against the Universal Church's traditional condemnation of homosexuality, pushes the door ajar to gay couples who wish to live their lives fully as part of the Catholic community, to be accepted as church members and receive a blessing by their priest or minister. Literally with the Pope's blessing.
There are some caveats. The blessing of same-sex couples, finally expressing the Catholic churches long overdue acceptance of their LBGTQ+ membership should remain clearly distinguished from marriage or even from church sanctioned civil unions.
IS THE POPE PROTESTANT?
Is Francis, in the last stage of his Papacy, working on his legacy? He certainly isn't making any friends within the ultra conservative wing of the Vatican or among for instance African bishops who hold heartfelt convictions that homosexuality constitutes a mortal sin, potentially even punishable by death. Yet I believe this man is not overthrowing either the moral authority of the church, or the supposedly eternal teachings of the Bible (which continue to designate the LBGTQ+ life style a Sin), but instead desires to direct Catholic Christianity towards an act of kindness. Maybe his version of Christ has God walking the Earth in human form seeking out today's sinners, the rejected and looked down upon (=basically all of humanity falling short of righteousness) saying: 'You Are Welcomed into God's House and Family'.
Best I remember, that's pretty much exactly what the 1st century Jesus was like, in my book. Nice guy.
purr
Francis wants people to remember him as the underdog's champion.
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