News that I missed, courtesy of The Babylon Bee:
VATICAN CITY — To clarify previous remarks on the nature of priestly blessings and same-sex couples, the see of Peter formally announced all such blessings are only appropriate if the priest ends the blessing by quickly adding, “No homo.”
“I hope that clears things up,” said Pope Francis in his native Spanish, which was then translated to Italian, then to Latin, back to Italian, and finally to English. “It’s not gay to be homo.”
“Wait, what did he mean by that?” said Thomas Archibald, a Catholic layman. “Can I go be gay now? I’m gonna go be gay.”
Anticipating further confusion, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement clarifying that every statement by Pope Francis should be understood as having a silent “no homo” added to the end of it. “The Pope always speaks nullus homo,” said Achibishop Fernando. “It is a tradition that traces its origins to Saint Peter himself.”
To further clarify matters, the Roman Curia has issued an addendum to every papal writing in the Vatican Secret Archives, adding “no homo” to every writing as far back as church documents allow. A new Catholic Bible will also be published which adds “No homo” to the end of Revelation, answering the question once and for all, for all time.
Pope Francis said, “I hope this clears everything up. No homo.”
At publishing time, the Catholic Church was embroiled in controversy after it was discovered adding “no homo” to the end of statements about the evils of homosexuality constituted a double negative.
Go here to read the rest. The magisterium has a short shelf life in the Age of Francis;
Heckuva job Conclave of 2013, heckuva job.
I used to be a popesplainer…it’s impossible under the dictatorship of Judas tho
My money is on this fizzling out. Everyone in the world is struggling with their own daily issues. No one has time or the patience for this blessing if a minority group that offers no value to society. Gay people.
This is how it started in the church of England, Ezabelle … it hasn’t fizzled out there. I think they have trans clergy now.
One of the Bee‘s funnier pieces. I really liked the part about translating from Spanish to Italian to Latin, etc., etc. It’s pretty on-the-nose. Anybody else remember “self-absorbed promethean neo-Pelagianism”? Fr. Hunwicke (LiturgicalNotes.blogspot.com) once wondered out loud if the translators were deliberately trying to make H.H. look ridiculous.
Archbishop Hebda and good intentions.
The Declaration issued today by the DDF was intended to offer nuance to the Church’s teaching on blessings without in any way changing the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage or on sexual morality. The blessings do not imply that the Church is officially validating the status of the couple. Effort is particularly to be taken, moreover, to make sure that such blessings are not confused with the sacrament of marriage. Nevertheless, the hope is that these blessings can assist those who request them to “open their lives to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.
I have to admit, that being a Bishop or Archbishop under Pope Ambiguous Maximus must be a challenge, to say the least.
This never should of taken place, but it does have a very heavy scent of Lavender.
https://www.archspm.org/statement-regarding-pastoral-blessings/
The imparting of a blessing must be spontaneous to those seeking a path to Christ which is not truly necessary as we opine that all people are probably saved.
Furthermore the organic nature of this blessing cannot be contradicted in any way by an authority outside the priest unless it directly speaks to the evil of the homosexual act and then I will defrock you faster than you can say “dubia” for this crime against charity.
Any attempts to make my statements from this document coherent in the light of earlier statements or even within this document will be punished with extreme defrocking accompanied by a Peronist scowl.
Long live accompaniment!
(There. Three paragraphs instead of forty. No wonder I’m not one of the special caste of word salad chefs!!)
Strickland and Burke received their pastoral blessing early. HoHoHo… Merry Christmas.
I made a joke maybe only a week ago about a statement of Francis’s being the pinnacle of Jesuitness. But this controversy may really be it. There’s an old joke about a Jesuit master who says that it’s impious to smoke while praying, but it’s pious to pray while smoking. Here we see that you shouldn’t bless gay marriages, but you can bless anything and that includes gay couples.
It’s not even wrong; it’s just weird. There’s that Chesterton quote that PM Meloni is fond of: “The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed. It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.” This policy is like when the Supreme Court issues an unnecessarily narrow ruling on a case involving a major topic. Pope Francis is applying Jesuit delicacy at a moment in history when we need boldness and clarity.
Maybe CAG- we aren’t the Church of England. We are the Church Christ instituted. We have the Truth. We have the Holy Sacraments and most importantly, the Holy Eucharist. We have the Divine protecting us which the Church of England does not have.
This whole business of blessing misses the point of joy in life, joy in sacred sex, joy in doing God’s will.
Read Vicki Thorn: Theology of the Body
If heaven is joy and Pope Francis wants sodomites to enjoy joy, Pope Francis’ blessing over sodomites might be “May your life be filled with the joy of doing God’s will forever and ever.”
My blessing also.
Fascinating: Ukrainian Catholic Church’s take on the declaration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwO-6uKazrI