The Catholic Church allowed priests to bless the same -sex couples. How did Pope Francis decide on such a step?

Pontica was influenced by regular conversations with LGBTK-loves. And it became easier for him to carry out reforms after the death of his predecessor

On December 18, the Catholic Church allowed priests to bless the same -sex couples. The published document says that the blessing in such situations is based on the principle that love and mercy from God can get all people without exception if they ask for this. This was preceded by years of disputes and doubts - and yet the Pope Francis has long and consistently went to such a decision. The New York Times found out how the reforms within the Catholic Church are related to the death of the predecessor of Francis, Benedict XVI, why the current dad was forced to not rush to make important decisions so as not to harm the church community, and how regular conversations with LGBTK-loves affected. Medusa retells this text with minor additions and abbreviations.

Francis decided to bless the same -sex couples - and some priests believe that in this way he corrected his own mistake

In March 2021, stunned LGBTK Catholics fought with the Vatican's document approved by Pope, who forbade the blessing of same-sex unions. It said that the Roman Catholic Church considers such a practice unacceptable, since "marriage is an inextricable union of a man and a woman concluded for the birth of a new life." It was also written in the document that God "cannot bless sin."

At that moment, Juan Carlos Cruz, an open gay and one of the proxies of the pontiff, spoke with Francis on the phone. According to Cruz, Francis, who had just returned from Iraq, made him feel that his dad was forced to agree with the decision of the Vatican bureaucratic machine. At the same time, Cruis claims that Francis "admitted that the responsibility lies on it." The pope’s associate had the impression that he wanted to correct what had happened.

Friendship History of Juan Cruz Cruz and Francis

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Juan Carlos Cruz was one of the victims of sexual violence by the popular Chilean priest Fernando Karadima, whom the Roman Catholic Church in 2011, after an internal investigation, removed from pastoral activities for the seduction of minors. Nevertheless, a few months later, the Vatican withdrew the charges.

Cruz and other victims of violence tried to report the crimes of Karadima to the Pope Francis during the visit of the latter to Chile in January 2018, but Pontiff did not believe the accusations and publicly stated that it was slander. Soon he admitted his mistake and invited Juan Carlos Cruz to spend a week in his residence. Francis apologized to Cruz and other victims of Karadima, and the Chilean priest was excommunicated (the state did not conduct an investigation against him, Karadima died in 2021 from pneumonia). In the same 2021, the pontiff included Cruis in the papal commission to protect minors.

What happened on December 18, Cruz and many other LGBTK Catholics perceive precisely as a correction of the error. On this day, the Catholic Church allowed priests to bless the same -sex couples. The corresponding declaration says that the blessing in such situations is based on the principle that love and mercy from God can get all people without exception if they ask for this. Priests must themselves in each case make a decision, give a blessing to the same -sex couples or not.

The blessing of same-sex couples cannot be given during the liturgy or any other formal church rituals. The new document also emphasizes that the blessing of same -sex couples will not be considered the legitimization of such relations from the point of view of the Catholic Church. It is also noted there that the blessing of same-sex couples cannot be carried out simultaneously with the conclusion of the civilian union or if at this moment there are clothes or any other visible signs of the wedding.

The declaration does not change the teachings of the church that homosexuality is “internal disorder”, and yet it can be considered a sign of the adoption of a group of believers, which the church regularly criticizes. At the same time, many Catholics, according to The New York Times, are wondering why dad decided on such an innovative decision only now. Especially considering that Francis began his pontificate with a loud statement in support of LGBTK-loves. "Who am I to judge?" - He said in 2013, when he was asked about the priest, who, according to rumors, was gay.

All these years, Francis has changed as a result of conversations with LGBTK Catholics-as well as priests and nuns who serve them. But he was in no hurry with reforms, so as not to harm the church

The conversations of the dad with representatives of the LGBTK community are discussed by people who have talked with dad for many years, as well as analysts of the Vatican interviewed by The New York Times. For example, James Martin, a well-known defender of LGBT Catholics, who himself often saw Francis and spoke with him about the need to recognize these members of the Church talks about such meetings. Francis Debernardo, Executive Director of the New Ways Ministry, groups for protecting the rights of gay catholics in Maryland, also says that he had seen a dad in October 2023-and also felt that changes were possible. Dobernardo also claims that Jeannine Grack, an American nun, who had been defending the rights of LGBTK Catholics for half a century and was criticized by the predecessors of the present pope, also met Francis.

Over the ten years of his stay at the post of Pope, Francis, Nadezhda instilled in LGBT Catholics. He himself met with transgender people professing Catholicism, and conducted services for them, and also advised gay pairs to raise their children. Papa also said that homosexuality should not be criminalized - and consistently supported civilian unions. And recently, the Vatican decided that transgender people could take baptism along with cisgender believers, as well as act as witnesses during the wedding and be godfather .

Nevertheless, Francis often confused LGBTK Catholics with his ambiguous messages, as, for example, this happened in 2021, after a ban on the blessing of same-sex unions. However, many liberal supporters of Francis note that he immediately tried to distance himself from this decision. Some clergymen believe that the document “dragged” the conservatives, not allowing a pontiff to understand all its essence. Another version is the pressure of the opponents of Francis (while individual cardinals ridicule such a hypothesis, calling it implausible).

Throughout his papacy, Francis continued the dialogue with LGBTK Catholics and their supporters-even though he had to look back at tension between conservatives and liberals, which could affect the future of the church. For example, in Germany, where the church is liberal, priests bless the gay unions contrary to the rules of the Vatican, and the bishops in Belgium even published the rules of blessing at same-sex wedding ceremonies-despite the fact that this prohibits the new declaration. But in the conservative African countries, where the church also would like to develop relations with believers, Catholics violently oppose the rights of LGBTK-loves. Moreover, in some countries, after the recent decision of the Vatican, “some signs of the uprising” already appeared: the conservative publication The Catholic Herald reported that the archbishop of the Church of St. Mary in Astana Tomash Pete published a letter in which he forbade his priests to give a blessing to the same -sex couples, calling the innovation of the pope “great fraud”.

“Francis was supposed to move slowly and smoothly - like a turtle,” concludes Marco Politi, the analyst of the Vatican policy and author of the book “Pope Francis among the wolves”. He also adds that dad "had to take into account the balance of power within the church." But since Francis became old and fell ill , it seems that he is in a hurry to complete the restructuring of his church.

Dad untied the death of the predecessor. And reforms accelerated the appeal of conservative bishops in which they asked Francis to decide on his position

The reorganization of the Church also led to the fact that Francis appointed to the highest posts of priests, single-minded priests who were ready for changes, writes The New York Times. In January last year, dad fired an official of the doctrinal office, Archbishop Dzhakomo Morandi, whom many considered responsible for the conservative document of 2021. In July, Pope reorganized his office, appointing him the head of the close adviser and compatriot-argenian Viktor Manuel Fernandez. “After ten years of the pontificate, Francis was finally able to appoint a cardinal, which corresponds to his vision of the church,” said Marco Politi.

In addition, the death of a rather conservative predecessor Francis, the pope of the Roman at rest of Benedict XVI, unleashed his hands, say experts interviewed by publication.

Sandro master, another experienced Vatican expert, agrees that Fernandez's appointment played a key role - like the death of the predecessor of the pope, Benedict XVI. “After the death of Benedict, Francis became bolder,” says the expert. The master also adds that if Benedict had been alive, Francis would never have appointed Cardinal Fernandez an observer behind the Church doctrine: this is a position that the previous pope occupied for more than 20 years.

Experts also suggest that the too aggressive actions of the opponents of Francis, who tried to drive the pope into the corner, played their role - and led to impressive reverse results.

In the summer, the American Cardinal Raymond Berke, the actual leader of the opposition to the pope -, together with other conservatives, sent a letter to Francis with a request to give a final answer about the blessing of homosexual couples. They considered a document of 2021 as a precedent and a certain advantage, writes The New York Times. Then they published their demands just before the work of the 16th session of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops - this event was very important for Francis, as it discussed a plan of reform proposed by the pontiff.

This is what Francis answered the cardinals then:

... In our relations with people, we cannot abandon pastoral love, which should permeate all our decisions and relationships. The protection of objective truth is not the only expression of this love, which also consists of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, exclude.

At the same time, the pope supported the norm by which the Catholic Church recognizes the marriage only the union of a man and a woman (Francis previously recognized only civil marriages of homosexual people - but not church ones).

Advisor to Francis Viktor Manuel Fernandez called the pope the answer to Cardinal Glory in a decisive factor when making a decision to bless the same -sex couples. Conservatives continued to insist on an unambiguous answer to their question - and they received it, writes The New York Times.

In his traditional Christmas congratulations, Curia's members Pope Francis urged them to “maintain vigilance”:

Hard ideological positions are often masked to good intentions, tear us away from reality and prevent us from moving forward.

"Jellyfish"