The Catholic Church’s approval of blessings of couples in same-sex relationships “will remain” under Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office told an Italian reporter in a brief interview.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández made the statement in response to a question from a journalist for the Rome-based daily Il Messaggero as he left the Holy See Press Office on July 3.
Fernández’s remarks are the clearest indication to date since Pope Leo’s election of a likely continuation of Pope Francis’ gay-blessings declaration. However, the impromptu interview falls short of an explicit, official statement from the Vatican.
Under Francis, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2023 released a document entitled “Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings,” which opened the door to church blessings for couples in “irregular” situations, including same-sex relationships.
The document, signed by Fernández and his deputy Msgr. Armando Matteo, and approved by Pope Francis, stressed that such blessings could not take the form of a liturgical rite, and did not imply formal approval of “irregular” unions.
The blessings document generated considerable conservative backlash, and some critics of the late Pope Francis had expressed hope that Pope Leo would rescind or ignore it.
I’m no expert on Hinduism, so maybe I’m completely wrong here, but I feel like those two things are in direct conflict with one another.
You’re breaking like 2 or 3 of the 10 commandments, right off the bat. Yahweh is very jealous.
Not really. There are nondualist traditions within Christianity. Meister Eckhart being the most well known. Nonduality isn’t the worshipping of other gods before Yahweh, it’s the belief that all that exists is within God. Panentheism isn’t incompatible with Christianity, it’s just a super niche trend within it, but with lots of historical precedent, even within large Christian organizations like the RCC. They never excommunicated Eckhart, and while he was controversial during his life, his thoughts on nonduality effectively forced the church to admit that it was not heresy.
Going beyond the RCC and into protestantism there is no unifying body to declare what is and isn’t allowed, so basically, screw that, imma do what I want.
But if you’re at all interested (not in a “Join us!” Way, more in an interesting historical knowledge way), there are tons of nondualist Christians, and I’d be happy to share.