Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.
The new document repeats that rationale and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.
But it says requests for such blessings should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy should not be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” as a precondition for receiving it.
Okay, whatever.
Let’s say I create a club (I’m picturing Calvin’s “Girl Haters” club). I can make whatever rules I want for my club. I can define ceremonies and rituals, and I can kick anyone out who doesn’t follow my rules. What I can’t do is tell anyone else what they can do.
So the Pope can say whatever he wants about what it means to be Catholic, but only Catholics should care.
I’d agree with you but for the fact that the Catholic Church has historically spent a ton of money lobbying to keep same-sex marriage illegal.
The Catholic Church is very much a political institution.
It would be nice if we didn’t have to pay attention to regressive extremists, but they are unfortunately very influential.
Oh, completely agree. My statement was just trying to constrain how much we should care as a society. It shouldn’t mean more than that.
I get where you’re coming from. At the same time, they are such a large club that this will impact many people…some members of the club hold political positions around the world, for instance.
Yep, true enough. The first part I don’t care to much about - if your club has rules you don’t like, leave the club. The second part is problematic because some clubs think even non-members should follow their rules.
Yup, definitely.
I’ve learned that some people aren’t good at making ethical decisions, and actually use religion as a moral compass. So they might not disagree with any anti-gay rules, but will still follow any pro-gay rules.
I didn’t think people were serious when they asked “If you don’t get your morals from religion, where do they come from?”. Some are. They genuinely don’t get it.
I agree, it’s scary. I attribute it to parents who tell their kids they shouldn’t do something “because God said so,” and never any other reason. They never try to reason out what’s moral or not, they just memorize the list.
I have a friend who’s the nicest guy ever. He’s also 6’5" and completely ripped. A lot of years ago, I was telling him about my transition from devout Catholic to atheist, and at one point I told him I realized if you could prove to me there was a god, I wouldn’t live my life differently than if you could prove there was; I have beliefs of what’s right and what’s wrong, and I try to behave accordingly, regardless of any deity. That confused him and I didn’t understand his confusion. I finally said, okay, if I proved to you there wasn’t a god, what would you go differently? He thought for a minute, then said, “Well, I might kill someone.”
There are few times in my life that I’ve been speechless, but that was one. I didn’t know how to move forward from there. I just hope his faith is never shaken.
Some people literally never develop those parts of the brain. It doesn’t mean they’re stupid or disabled or anything (at least not by current definitions), but this is why we need things like laws and even religion.
I do think with most people who never develop that, it’s because that part was never exercised growing up. It’s like a muscle: if you don’t use it it won’t develop. There are probably people who have brain defects that are incapable of developing a moral compass, but it’s rare. That friend of mine is a really smart guy - aerospace software engineer - but for him, morality is 100% tired to the (strict) Christian religion he was raised with.