He Pope Francisco He restated a statement he made weeks ago: “It is not the union that is blessed, but simply the people who asked for it together“, regarding the recent approval of the blessing for the homosexual couples or couples in an irregular situation before the Church.

The Pope reaffirmed this concept in the declaration ‘Fiducia supplicans’, which allows the blessing of homosexual couples or divorced and remarried couples, when he received today the members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith whose head, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, was the editor of the document.

For Francis, “the purpose of pastoral and spontaneous blessings is to demonstrate concretely the closeness of the Lord and the Church to all those who, in different situations, ask for help to continue sometimes with the beginning of a journey of faith.”

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In this regard, the Pope wanted to emphasize two things: “the first is that these blessings, beyond any liturgical context and form, they do not require moral perfection to be received‘ and ‘the second, that when a couple spontaneously comes to them to ask about it, It is not the union that is blessed, but simply the people who asked for it together”.

“Not the union, but the people, taking into account, of course, the context, the sensitivities, the places where they live and the most appropriate ways to do so,” the Pope clarified.

Recently, the bishops of Africa deemed the possibility of blessing same-sex couples on the continent “not appropriate,” rejecting the statement because, they added, “in our context it would cause confusion and be in direct contradiction with cultural norms and values. spirit of African communities.

Of the nearly seventy countries in the world that criminalize same-sex relationships, more than thirty are in Africa, where the majority of such laws are inherited from the colonial period.

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In his address to the members of the former Holy Office, the Pope indicated: “We must not tire of insisting on the primacy of the human person and on the defense of his dignity above all circumstances.”

He announced that the Doctrine of Faith is working on a document on this subject and added: “I hope it helps us as a Church to be always close to all those who, without proclamations, fight in the concrete life of every day and pay personally for defending the rights of those who don’t matter.”

Francis had clarified in a closed-door meeting with Roman clergy on Jan. 13 that these blessings “do not change the doctrine of the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman” and that “people are blessed and do not sin.” by the Vatican media. (JO)