POPE FRANCIS ENGAGES IN MORE DAMAGE CONTROL CONCERNING F*****S******

This Friday morning, January 26, Pope Francis engaged in more damage control. This is what His Holiness stated as reported by Vatican News with my  astute comments embedded in the text in RED.

Pastoral blessings

It was "in this context of evangelisation,” Pope Francis continued, that he wanted to mention the recent Declaration Fiducia supplicans.

The purpose of the “pastoral and spontaneous blessings” discussed in the Declaration, the Pope stressed, is to “concretely show the closeness of the Lord and the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask for help to continue—sometimes to begin—a journey of faith.” (This appears as a non-starter as I have had individual homosexuals make appointments with me to discuss their situation. Often times they would ask for a blessing or ask to go to Confession. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt I could not offer absolution due to the nature of the confession and no desire to repent; what is confessed is bragging. But in lieu of absolution, I offer a blessing. I have had gay parishioners in couple relationships who attend Mass together. They attend Mass! They receive the blessings of the Mass to include the Final Blessing. They can attend Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament and other liturgies that include blessings. I just don’t get what the pope is saying. As far as FS, if I am asked, and I have never been asked by a homosexual couple for a blessing together, but if it does happen, I will offer a simply Sign of the Cross, individually over both of them and ask that they be open to the moral teachings of the Church.)

In this regard, the Pope emphasized two points.

Firstly, he said, “these blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, do not require moral perfection to be received.” (Nor does attending Mass require moral perfection. This statement is a smoke screen and insults our intelligence! Although one must be in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion. I would say that about 80% or more of Catholics who present themselves for Holy Communion are not in a state of grace as they no longer go to Confession. They will have to explain themselves to God at their particular judgement, not me.)

 Secondly, he noted, “when a couple spontaneously approaches [a minister] and asks for them, he is not blessing the union, but simply the people who together have requested it.” 

“Not the union,” the Pope stressed, “but the persons, naturally taking into account the context, sensitivities, the places where one lives, and the most appropriate ways to do it.” 

 (To be honest with you, if I were in a sexual homosexual union, why in the name of God and all that is holy would I ask a bishop, priest, or deacon to bless my lover and me together, especially if I am in a civilly recognized “marriage” other than to bless the union? I would be pissed off that the pope is saying my union can’t be blessed. Why submit myself to a blessing if my union isn’t also blessed as I love my partner and the union???? Again, as a priest, I would simply bless both, but with individual Signs of the Cross. But I have to ask bishops, when your priests start blessing couples at civil ceremonies and in church before the altar and in a liturgical setting, will they be suspended and removed from a parish like the Bishop of Covington, Kentucky recently did with two priests who celebrate the TLM exclusively and said the reformed Mass did not preserve enough of Catholic tradition and that the reformed Mass was not needed? Will Cardinal Cupich treat the pastor of Saint Sabina in the same way—suspend him? And when he liturgically blesses homosexual “married” couples will he be suspended?????)