Cardinal Fernández insists that blessing same-sex couples does not ‘validate or justify anything’
January 03, 2024
» Continue to this story on Pillar
CWN Editor's Note: In a recent interview with The Pillar, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the blessing of same-sex couples and other couples in irregular unions “does not validate or justify anything.”
“Clearly we have to grow in the conviction that non-ritualized blessings are not a consecration of the person, they are not a justification of all his actions, they are not a ratification of the life he leads,” he said. “No. No. I do not know at what point we have so exalted this simple pastoral gesture that we have equated it with the reception of the Eucharist. That is why we want to set so many conditions for blessing.”
Cardinal Fernández said that it is up to local bishops (rather than episcopal conferences) to discern the application of Fiducia Supplicans, the dicastery’s declaration on the pastoral meaning of blessings—but that the document’s teaching cannot be rejected outright.
“Obviously, when there is a text signed by the Pope, in order to interpret it broadly, the bishops must first study it in depth and without haste, and allow themselves to be enlightened and enriched by that text,” he said. “Therefore, prudence and attention to local culture could admit different ways of application, but not a total denial of this step being asked of priests.”
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