The blessing of homosexual couples approved by the Pope triggers another crisis in the Catholic Church

The Church is experiencing a surprising crisis due to Harsh reactions from hundreds of bishops and entire episcopal conferences that condemned the pontifical document Trust Supplians which authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples, clarifying that it is a pastoral gesture that does not influence blessings and liturgical actions.

Catholic marriage between a man and a woman open to motherhood is safe, maintain the Pope and the Argentine cardinal Víctor “Tucho” Fernández, who arrived in Rome in July to become the pontiff’s right-hand man as prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith.

While controversies, clarifications and a climate of disorientation spread In the Church, looking in perspective at the worst crisis of Jorge Bergoglio’s ten-year pontificate, the antecedents that led to the outbreak of the open clash between progressives and conservatives starting from the fateful document of December 18th which authorizes the pastoral blessing are evident. to two people of the same sex by a priest.

Although the document created by Fernández, approved by the Pope, and subsequent clarifications in a press release signed by the Argentine cardinal establish that the blessing of Catholic homosexuals, in particular couples, represents a pastoral and non-ritual, sacred gesture, which has nothing to do with a Catholic wedding, the hurricane of protests It covers a large part of world Catholicism, with a very strong peak of reaction: that of the African churches.

On the continent where the Catholic faith is most expanding, the rebellion of national episcopal conferences and of priests and parishioners is taking on worrying dimensions.

At the basis of all this contrary demonstration which fully affects the authority of the Argentine pontiff is the historical culture of Africans, against homosexual activities, which in some cases go even beyond prolonged prison sentences and raise the sentences to the death penalty .

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with 46 million Catholics, has said “no” to the novelty of pastoral blessings, while the continent’s bishops’ conferences consult on the opportunity to meet to address the thorny issue.

It is convenient to read the crisis in perspective. When his pastoral government turns ten years old, the Pope finds himself faced with a new panorama of his reign. On December 31, 2022, Pope Emeritus Joseph Ratzinger dies at the age of 95. Almost ten years as Pope Emeritus, a unique condition: he had renounced Pope Benedict XVI at the age of 85, an extraordinary novelty in the Church, where the case of a Pope resigning of his own free will dates back almost seven centuries.

The death of Ratzinger, an extraordinary conservative theologian who was the right-hand man of the Polish Pope Saint John Paul II from the position of prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, a position in which the Argentine cardinal Víctor Fernández succeeded, has left the traditionalist system factions without their leader .

Changes, controversies and internal struggles

In 2023 the Pope was thus able to tackle without problems the desired initiative to open the final phase of his pontificate with doctrinal changes and readjustments for which he called Cardinal Fernández for help. We must remember the frustration experienced in 2020 when the World Synod on the Amazon was held.

The synod fathers approved revolutionary initiatives such as that of the “viri probati”, community leaders who would help alleviate the dramatic shortage of priests in the Amazon. Married and heads of families. The measure was also limited to the Amazon areas. Other progressive decisions too.

But although the Synod of Bishops broadly supported the changes, in the final document prepared by the Pope all the important reforms were not considered by Jorge Bergoglio.

Francis has opened a new period, that of the final phase of his pontificate (the Pope turned 87 on 17 December), which began in October 2023 with the first phase of the Synod of Synods, a large assembly of the world’s bishops, which will be completed with a second phase in October this year having just begun.

The goal is promote changes but manage the brakes contain the strongest demands of progressives and conservatives e save the Church from every schismatic impulse.

The most dangerous tensions are the ultra positions of progressives and conservatives which can lead to serious ruptures.

In the first phase of the Synod, Francis managed to contain the changes sought by the progressives.

The vast majority did not know that the Pope had quietly launched a major surgery. Openness towards homosexuals, who represent for progressives a gigantic ball of lead for a pontificate that wants to confront it once and for all an issue that poisons the Church.

It is in the European region that the bishops, priests and lay people who want to tackle the problem once and for all are most numerous.

Last November 7th. The Pope quietly uttered the wild cry: “The Church is open to everyone, everyone, everyone.”

A clear recommendation. The new line was the world premiere of the hottest topic in the Church. This is interpreted in a document by the Argentine theologian Cardinal “Tucho” Fernández approved by the Pope.

The text resolves some theological doubts by putting this in black and white Transsexuals can also request and receive baptism, they can be godparents and witnesses at weddings. The prefect’s document for the doctrine of the faith gives free rein to homosexual godparents who live with another person. It is sufficient that they “lead a life according to faith”.

Although the Catechism of the Church is categorical that chastity must also be included, the document addresses the issue.

Prefect Fernández’s document is motivated by doubts presented to the former Holy Office by a Brazilian bishop who asked to be enlightened on what to do if potential participants in the sacraments of baptism and marriage are presented by trans people.

The document specifies that a transsexual undergoing hormonal treatments and sex change surgery can receive baptism under the same conditions as other believers.

“In this case, children and adolescents with transsexual problems, if well prepared and available, will be able to receive baptism,” he concludes.

In light of this background, the document also prepared by Cardinal Fernández and published on December 18, which unraveled the crisis at a global level, is seen with different eyes. There is a clear logical connection between the two documents.

After the outbreak of the conservative protests and the particular case of the harsh reaction of the African Churches, a real burning coal in the hands of the Pope, prefect Fernández published a press release in which he extensively explains the difference between pastoral blessings and their separation from entire liturgical sphere.

He even speculated with the example of a pastoral blessing to a trans Catholic couple, in which the priest takes about 15 seconds to give his blessing, without knowing anything about the lives of his faithful interlocutors who ask him to bless them.

Meanwhile, the crisis spreads. The famous conservative Catholic theologian, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who demolished the shelf of recent papal documents, summed up his condemnation in one word: “blasphemy.”