Pope Francis announced that he would authorize the blessing of “irregular” couples in the eyes of the Church, including homosexual couples. The Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) prefers to talk about “people”. She defended on Wednesday “a broad and unconditional welcome”, insisting on the difference with marriage. “The Permanent Council receives this declaration as an encouragement to pastors to generously bless the people who approach them humbly asking for God’s help,” the CEF governing body said in a statement.
The Permanent Council of the CEF makes a clear distinction with marriage: these blessings must be done “outside any sign likely to be assimilated” to the celebration of marriage which remains an “exclusive union (…) between a man and a woman” .
“Bless individually”
In a document published on December 18 and approved by Pope Francis, the powerful dicastery (ministry) for the Doctrine of the Faith had authorized the blessing of “irregular” couples in the eyes of the Church, including remarried couples and couples of same sex, provided that it is performed outside of liturgical rituals.
Entitled “Fiducia supplicans” (“Pleading trust”), this note, considered a major doctrinal change, provoked an outcry from many bishops, particularly in Africa. In France, the nine bishops with authority over the Brittany and Pays de Loire regions called on January 5 to “individually” bless each of the people forming the couple, so as to “not contribute to creating confusion” with the sacrament of marriage. They further believed that these blessings were a possibility and not an obligation.
People “excluded neither from the love of God nor from his Church”
For the CEF which also speaks of blessing “people”, Fiducia Supplicans “recalls that those who do not live in a situation allowing them to engage in the sacrament of marriage are excluded neither from the love of God nor of his Church.” Because it is “the accompaniment in the Church of homosexual people living as a couple on the one hand and that of divorced people engaged in a life as a couple on the other hand,” notes the press release.
The Bishop of Bayonne, Mgr Marc Aillet, known for his conservative positions, also spoke in favor of individual blessings in a note published on December 23. The protest was particularly heated in Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).