The Pope's Response to the Cardinals' Second “Dubium”

It is certainly interesting to retrace the stages of this controversy, even if we do not know what turn it will take during the Synod.

History of “Blessing” Same-Sex Couples

In March 2019, the German bishops initiated the Synodal Path with four forums. The second concerned sexual morality. Responsible for creating a document, the latter asked for “the unconditional recognition of homosexual partnerships and the renunciation of the moral disqualification of the sexual practice that results from them.… The liturgical appreciation of these values must also be considered.”

On February 3, 2021, Peter Kohlgraf, the Bishop of Mainz, revealed that he had approved a compilation “presenting examples of liturgical blessings offered by ministers to same-sex couples.” He also revealed that this type of celebration has already taken place in his diocese.

On March 15, 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published a response to a dubium on this matter. Normally, a dubium requiring a “yes” or “no” answer allows for a brief and decisive formulation. The question was formulated as follows: “Does the Church have the power to bless unions of people of the same sex?” The answer is “no.”

An explanatory note states that this question was raised because of “projects” concerning such blessings. It adds that blessings can only be applied to that which leads man to his good. However, homosexual unions go against the will of God. Finally, the note concludes, such blessings could be re-interpreted as a kind of marriage, which would be profoundly erroneous and dangerous.

On May 10, 2021, priests organized 110 ceremonies across Germany to carry out “blessings” of homosexual couples. Several German bishops had announced that they would let it happen. LGBT flags popped up on churches and at the foot of altars.

On July 21, 2021, the Vatican warned the German bishops about the Synodal Path. The text warns of a danger for the unity of the Church, due to the plan to introduce “new structures in the dioceses” without the agreement of the Universal Church.

Consequently, the text considers it to be “desirable that the proposals of the Path of the particular Church in Germany be integrated into the synodal process in which the universal Church is engaged, in order to contribute to mutual enrichment and to give a testimony of unity by which the Body of the Church manifests its fidelity to Christ the Lord.” 

On September 20, 2022, the Dutch-speaking bishops of Belgium published a liturgy for the celebration of the “blessing” of homosexual couples. This practice existed, but was not supported. La Croix newspaper explains that the text has been in development since a May 2018 meeting with Francis with theologians, who received encouragement from the Pontiff.

On November 18, 2022, the Vatican proposed a moratorium on the Synodal Path through three cardinals, during the ad limina visit of the German bishops. On March 11, 2023, during the fifth and final assembly of the Synodal Path, the adopted text recommends “developing and introducing in due time appropriate liturgical celebrations… with proposed forms for blessing celebrations for different couple situations (remarried couples, same-sex couples, couples after a civil marriage).”

On the same date, Johan Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp, speaking during this Assembly, explained that the Pope and the Vatican had tacitly accepted the blessing of same-sex couples put in place by the Belgian episcopate their ad limina visit in November 2022. “Everyone said: ‘it’s your Episcopal Conference, it’s your decision.’ The Pope said neither yes nor no.”

In July 2023, Víctor Manuel Fernández, appointed head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, suggested that a blessing of homosexual unions was possible “if it is given in such a way that it does not lead to confusion with marriage.” On September 8, 2023, this response was confirmed in an interview with the Register: “At this stage, it is clear that the Church only understands marriage as an indissoluble union between a man and a woman.” 

The Pope's Response to the Cardinals' Second Dubium

On July 10, 2023, five cardinals transmitted a series of five dubia to Pope Francis. The second concerns the blessing of same-sex couples: “Can the Church… [accept] as a ‘possible good’ objectively sinful situations, such as unions of persons of the same sex, without breaching the revealed doctrine?”

On July 11, 2023, Pope Francis responds to these dubia. As for the second dubium, he recognizes that “the Church has a very clear conception of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the begetting of children. It calls this union ‘marriage.’” But he adds that “other forms of union only realize it ‘in a partial and analogical way’ (Amoris laetitia, 292). And so they cannot be strictly called ‘marriage.’”

He recognizes that this name must be reserved exclusively for “the reality that we call marriage.” He adds that “the Church avoids any rite or sacramental [blessing] that could contradict this conviction and give the impression that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage.”

However, “in dealing with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity. … The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity, which is also made up of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot become judges who only deny, reject, exclude.”

Francis then invokes “pastoral prudence [which] must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage. For when a blessing is requested, one is expressing a request for help from God, a plea for a better life, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better.”

Then comes the exception: “On the other hand, although there are situations that from an objective point of view, are not morally acceptable, pastoral charity itself demands that we do not simply treat as ‘sinners’ other people whose guilt or responsibility can be due to their own fault or responsibility attenuated by various factors that influence subjective imputability.”

There is a very big difference between giving absolution to a person whose responsibility is attenuated and “blessing,” before the Church and the faithful, the objectively bad situation in which he has found himself, thus closing off any possibility of opening himself to the truth while misleading the other faithful.

To mitigate the previous point, the Pope explains that “decisions which, in certain circumstances, can form part of pastoral prudence, should not necessarily become a norm.”

In other words: “It is not appropriate for a diocese, an episcopal conference or any other ecclesial structure to constantly and officially authorize procedures or rites for all kinds of matters, since everything ‘that is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level or a rule’” (Amoris laetitia, 304).

Behind this formulation which seems to rule out a systematization of a rite, the fact remains that the Pope clearly accepts that, according to pastoral prudence, in certain circumstances, a priest could be led – and therefore authorized – to bless a homosexual couple. It is this acceptance that led the five cardinals to reformulate their dubium:

“Is it possible, under ‘certain circumstances,’ for a priest to bless homosexual unions thereby suggesting that homosexual behavior itself would not be contrary to God's law and a person's path to God?”

Conclusion

Even if the Pope's response seems to rule out “official authorization” of the blessing of same-sex couples by an ecclesial structure, the fact remains that he authorizes it at least in “certain circumstances.” Moreover, as was the case with the Belgian bishops, he let it happen.