The Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) announced Tuesday “full communion” of Portuguese bishops with Pope Francis’ favorable stance on blessing same-sex couples.
The CUP Permanent Council, meeting in Fatima today, said it “recognizes the welcome of all members of the Church and expresses the full communion of the Portuguese bishops with the Holy Father” regarding Pope Francis’ approval of the Catholic Church’s blessing to same-sex couples.
However, the Permanent Council stresses that the recent declaration “on the pastoral significance of blessings (…) does not change Church teaching on marriage.”
On December 18, the Vatican officially allowed the blessing of same-sex couples “in an irregular situation” within the Church, while maintaining its position against gay marriage.
It was the first time the Church had made a clear statement about blessing same-sex couples, an issue that has generated tension within the organization due to strong opposition from the Conservative sector.
Some bishops responded immediately, saying they would not enforce the new measure.
On Jan. 4, the Vatican backed the pope’s initiative to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there was nothing “heretical” about it, after resistance from some bishops in Africa, Poland and other countries.
In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office for the defense of doctrinal orthodoxy said some bishops’ conferences needed more time for “pastoral reflection” about Francis’ formal approval of such blessings.
But “there is no place to doctrinally distance oneself” from the Declaration of Blessings or “consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church, or blasphemous,” a statement from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith quoted the North American Associated Press (AP) as saying.
The declaration acknowledges that “prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and local culture may allow for different methods of application” of the new rule of blessings, but says that there cannot be “a complete or final negation of this path which has been announced to the priests.” .
He states that in situations where “there are laws condemning imprisonment, and in some cases torture and even death, the mere act of someone declaring themselves homosexual, it is obvious that a blessing would be imprudent” since “bishops do not wish to subject homosexuals to violence.”
However, he considers it “principled” that bishops’ conferences “do not support a doctrine different from the declaration signed by the Pope.”
The Bishops’ Conferences of Zambia and Malawi opposed the measure. In Zambia, homosexual sex is punishable by 15 years to life in prison, and in Malawi the law provides for up to 14 years in prison for “homosexual” relations, with the possibility of corporal punishment.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has insisted on the importance of a church “open to all” and has taken a series of measures that have angered conservatives.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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