Angelus News | January 12, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 1

words that God is not so demanding
about sin, thus hiding the fact that sin
in thought, word, and deed distances
us from God.
There is no blessing, not only in public
but also in private, for sinful living
conditions that objectively contradict
God’s holy will.
Zambia Conference of
Catholic Bishops (Africa)
Based on sacred Scripture, which presents
homosexual acts as acts of grave
depravity (Genesis 19:1–29; Romans
1:24–27; 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Timothy
1:10), the conference reaffirms
the traditional teaching of the Church,
which declares “homosexual acts to be
intrinsically disordered and contrary
to natural law.” Hence, “under no
circumstances can they be approved”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no. 2357).
In order to avoid any pastoral confusion
and ambiguity … and while listening
to our cultural heritage, which
does not accept same-sex relationships,
the conference guides that the
declaration … be taken as for further
reflection and not for implementation
in Zambia.
The conference would like to earnestly
invite all those engaged in samesex
unions to embark on the path of
conversion with greater trust in God’s
mercy and love.
Bishop Erik Varden, OSCO,
Bishop of Trondheim (Norway)
Can believers who live in irregular
situations be blessed? They can, of
course. It is a long-established custom
in our Church that, at the moment of
holy Communion, those who for one
reason or another cannot receive the
sacrament approach the priest and ask
for a blessing: this is never withheld
unless the supplicant, God forbid,
manifests a sacrilegious attitude.
It is edifying and touching to see a
brother or sister in the faith, a person
dear to us, acknowledge: “Here and
now, the circumstances of my life are
such that I cannot receive the sacraments;
still, I believe in God and trust
that God believes in me, so I invoke his
blessing and declare my will to remain
a part of this community of faith.”
There is sincerity, humility, and
strength in such a posture. Where
those three qualities are present, grace
can work.
What is the difference between an
“ecclesial” and a “pastoral” blessing?
An “ecclesial” act takes place publicly,
following a ritual approved by the
Church; a “pastoral” act is personal, intimate,
pertaining to the inner forum.
Here, then, we have a criterion for
the application of Fiducia Supplicans:
If couples living in irregular circumstances
request a “pastoral” blessing,
the appropriate setting is away from
The exterior of the headquarters of the Dicastery
for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican in 2022. |
CNS/PAUL HARING
the public eye, following the example
of the Lord in the Gospel who, when
approached by a blind man begging to
touch him, took the man “by the hand
and led him out of the village” (Mark
8:23), there to lay his hands on him,
that the healing of divine grace might
touch that in him which was broken,
without the brokenness becoming a
public spectacle.
A second criterion concerns the intention
of couples asking to be blessed. …
Presupposed is a will to conversion and
an attitude of faith by virtue of which
they “acknowledge themselves humbly
as sinners.” There is to be, so Fiducia
Supplicans declares, “no intention to
legitimize anything, but rather to open
one’s life to God, to ask for his help to
live better.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin,
Primate of All Ireland
At a practical level as a priest, I
welcome the clarity in this document.
The pope is very clear that these
pastoral blessings are not a kind of a
liturgical or ritual acknowledgment
that these unions are equivalent or in
any way analogous to the marriage
between a man or a woman.
At the same time, it shows that the
January 12, 2024 • ANGELUS • 13