{"id":500,"date":"2023-12-18T15:15:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=500"},"modified":"2025-09-29T01:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T01:30:21","slug":"vatican-document-on-possibility-of-blessing-couples-in-irregular-situations-and-same-sex-couples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Vatican document on “possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The document<\/a> is carefully worded but is already being mis-applied and used as a cudgel by Catholics of a variety of persuasions. It takes pains to say there is no such thing as same sex marriage.<\/p>\n

Here is a link to a good discussion. I have not read the Vatican document (but I will in next day or so) but did read the full Pillar posting. I've excerpted a key part of their posting below the link. But read the whole Pillar article and don't go in with pre-fixed opinions.<\/div>\n
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https:\/\/www.pillarcatholic.com\/p\/fiducia-supplicans-what-does-it-say<\/a><\/div>\n
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\n
The third section, Blessings of Couples in Irregular Situations and of Couples of the Same Sex<\/strong>, says that the preceding considerations show there is a \u201cpossibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex.\u201d But it insists that their form \u201cshould not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn such cases,\u201d it says, \u201ca blessing may be imparted that not only has an ascending value but also involves the invocation of a blessing that descends from God upon those who \u2014 recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help \u2014 do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The declaration says that Pope Francis wants these \u201cnon-ritualized blessings\u201d to remain spontaneous, never losing their quality as \u201csimple gestures that provide an effective means of increasing trust in God on the part of the people who ask for them, careful that they should not become a liturgical or semi-liturgical act, similar to a sacrament.\u201d<\/p>\n

The text stresses that Catholics should \u201cneither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation,\u201d but at the same time, \u201cnot prevent or prohibit\u201d the Church from responding to people seeking God\u2019s help through \u201ca simple blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue, and mutual assistance \u2014 but also God\u2019s light and strength to be able to fulfill his will completely,\u201d it suggests.<\/p>\n

Speaking of couples in irregular situations, the text adds that to avoid confusion or scandal blessings must \u201cnever be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The document is carefully worded but is already being mis-applied and used as a cudgel by Catholics of a variety of persuasions. It takes pains to say there is no such thing as same sex marriage. Here is a link to a good discussion. I have not read the Vatican document (but I will in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7193,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions\/7193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}