Pope Francis’ homosexual ‘blessings’ and the reaction of the bishops worldwide
Jack Maxey, Father Charles Murr and Liz Yore once again join John-Henry Westen in this episode of Faith & Reason.
Fri Dec 22, 2023 - 7:45 pm EST
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(LifeSiteNews) –– Jack Maxey, Father Charles Murr, and Liz Yore once again join John-Henry Westen in this year’s last episode of Faith & Reason to discuss the Vatican’s recent document allowing for the “blessings” of homosexual couples and comments made by Cardinal Wilton Gregory about the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) earlier this month.
On Monday, the Dicastery (formerly Congregation) for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) released a declaration, Fiducia supplicans, described as a development in the Church’s understanding of blessings. The document, authored by Cardinal Victor Fernandez and approved by Pope Francis, allows for the possibility of people in “irregular situations,” such as divorced and civilly remarried couples, as well as homosexual couples, to receive blessings. The blessings must be conducted in a way that is non-liturgical and does not confuse the blessing with a sacrament.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was unceremoniously removed by Francis as Bishop of Tyler, Texas last month, gave a statement to LifeSite in the immediate aftermath of Fiducia supplicans’ release urging bishops to say “no” to the “blessing” of homosexual couples.
Since Monday, the bishops of Malawi and Zambia have said that the document will not be implemented in their countries, and Archbishop Tomas Peta of the Archdiocese of Astana, Kazakhstan, as well as his auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider, have ordered priests not to abide by it, saying that such blessings seriously contradict Divine Revelation and that should the Church begin giving such “blessings,” it would “if not in theory, then in practice, a propagandist of the globalist and ungodly ‘gender ideology.’”
Other clerics, meanwhile, such as Chicago’s Cardinal Archbishop Blaise Cupich, have praised the DDF’s document, calling it a “step forward” in the Church. Dissident priest Fr. James Martin, S.J., has also performed such a blessing at the Jesuit residence in New York City, a picture of him blessing the two men appearing in the New York Times.
Yore opines that Fiducia supplicans marks a “watershed moment” for the Church, pointing out the reaction from men like Martin, as well as the chaos, confusion, and division that the document produced, and that it marks a break with the Church’s teaching whose impact on the “social culture of our civilization is catastrophic.”
She also notes that the then-CDF released a document in February 2021 that directly contradicts Fiducia supplicans, noted that the Synod on Synodality did not touch the topic of homosexual blessings in its final document, opting instead to discuss it once the Synod resumes next October, that the Sankt Gallen Mafia “installed” Francis for a document like it, and that the document “smacks” of a “power play” dealing with the next conclave.
“It does not matter what the document says,” she observes. “What matters is how it is played out in the screaming headlines in local, national, and global media.”
Father, meanwhile, said that the document was one of the worst-written he had ever read, and that the way it is written makes it difficult to take it seriously. He also said a word about Francis’ politics, opining that the Pope is using the Church for “political ends” with the release of the document, something Father says bothers him, comparing the document at hand with the Hegelian dialectic.
Yore, looking at the result that the document would have on parishes and parish priests, says that parish priests will “revolt” as a result of it, and that “this is the hill that they will die on.” “They’re the ones who are trying to shepherd the flock,” she continues. “They are going to be put on the hot seat, they are going to be confronted, and then they’re going to get canceled.”
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In her opinion, Fiducia supplicans will lead to further parish closings and the cancellation of more priests and bishops, maintaining that what the document did was “classic[ally] Marxist,” by opposing two groups with one another. She also notes that LGBT lobby groups, while ecstatic about the document, maintain that it does not go far enough.
Later in the conversation, she says that this is the time people begin organizing, push back, and help parish priests. She also recommends people contact their bishops and the Nunciature in Washington, D.C. and let their bishops, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Nuncio to the United States, know that they are not happy about the document.
Maxey also recommends keeping the African bishops in prayer, because Africa is “under pressure” from Western nations to accept LGBT ideology in order to get aid, including food. He also says that people should simply “keep the faith,” noting that the Church has had bad Popes and dealt with crises in the past. He also draws attention to the state motto of Virginia, Sic semper tyrannis, “Thus always to tyrants,” in the context of the current pontificate, warning that “God will not be mocked.”
“I think we need to pray with fervency for all of the brave priests, because bravery is what this world needs more than anything,” he says about priests in the wake of the document. “And of the two kinds of bravery, there’s physical bravery. And that might be momentary, but there’s moral courage which is far harder to endure because it requires endurance of days and weeks and months and years, and the courage to face that difficulty over and over again.”
Father maintains that the problem in the Church is such that a future Pope will call an ecumenical council to fix the problem, and speaks to those tempted to leave the Church over the document, relating email exchanges he had since the document’s release.
“I would say … to every Catholic listening to me: Don’t you dare give up,” he sternly warns. Recalling that people once looked on the Church as their Mother, he said that people don’t leave their mother when she is being “insulted, ridiculed, [or] dragged through the mud,” but rather, they defend her.
“This is a time for … all Catholics … to actually be more in love with that Mother and defend Her,” says Father about defending the Church. “She needs to be defended right now. And by defending her, you are on the right side. You’re on God’s side. I guarantee it.”
“These things will pass,” he continues. “They’ll be taken care of in time. Right now is not the time. Right now is a time of confusion. But you don’t give up. And I ask anybody who has the tendency to leave not to be a coward. We need you right now more than ever before.”
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