Uruguayan Bishop Defends Blessing of LGBTQ+ Couple; And More Updates

Today’s post presents more developments in the church’s ongoing discussion of Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican declaration that allows blessings for couples in “irregular” situations, including LGBTQ+ couples, with some parts of the church welcoming the practice warmly and other parts continuing to offer resistance.

Uruguayan Bishop Defends Blessing of High-Profile Couple

Facing criticism, Bishop Milton Troccoli of Maldonado-Punta del Este-Minas, Uruguay, defended the blessing of a prominent same-gender couple, citing the Vatican approval for support.

In February, a prominent couple planned a civil marriage ceremony, initially set to occur in a chapel but moved to the couple’s farm. In view of media reports about the wedding, the couple sought to dialogue with the bishops after they requested a blessing. Crux reported on a meeting that included not only the couple, but the bishop, the vicar general, and the parish’s pastor:

“‘It took a few days to be able to make the pertinent consultations,’ Troccoli said, saying the diocese consulted with the apostolic nunciature in Uruguay on how to proceed, given the intense media interest.

“The nunciature responded, Troccoli said, saying that ‘the blessing had to be given, since there was a document signed by the Pope, and that we should proceed accordingly.’

“We then communicated to the interested parties that the blessing would be given and reminded them that it would not be in a church, that it was a blessing of the people and not of the union, (it was not a ‘church wedding’), and that because of this it would be done discreetly, without the presence of guests; that it was a simple blessing,” he said.

“After weighing factors of location and scheduling, Troccoli said the blessing was given privately at the couple’s home.”

Bishop Troccoli explained the controversy had possibly “hurt the sensitivity of some and may have confused others” and also “moved some to come closer to discuss their personal or family life situation, thanking the Church for its closeness.” He continued:

“The goal of Fiducia Supplicans is to ‘pastorally draw near’ to couples who find themselves in irregular situations, Troccoli said, saying this is not done ‘for ideological reasons, nor for propaganda, but seeking that the love of God reaches everyone.’

“He said the novelty of Fiducia Supplicans and its pastoral implications ‘mobilizes us all’ and is an invitation for the Church to conduct a ‘deep reflection on how to continue seeking paths of evangelization.'”

Essay Focuses on Fiducia Supplicans and Gay Priests

Robert Mickens, editor of La Croix International and a gay Catholic, wrote an essay about Fiducia Supplicans focusing not on LGBTQ+ couples, but on the clerics offering such blessings—especially those who are themselves gay. Mickens notes immediately that the church’s top cleric, Pope Francis, is rightly celebrated as someone who “does not judge us,” and has helped repair harm done by the church’s teachings on homosexuality. But the author is less praiseworthy of other clerics, and so he explains:

“It could be argued that the new Vatican document on blessings is not really aimed at same-sex couples or others who are in irregular situations. Rather, it is actually meant for those who bless them — bishops, presbyters and deacons. They make up a minuscule segment of the entire People of God, but surveys suggest that many (some say a large majority) of our Catholic priests are homosexually-oriented. But they are not all the same, obviously.”

By this, Mickens means that while there are gay priests who have accepted their sexual identity and integrated it into their lives and ministry, many gay priests have not. Some of the most LGBTQ-negative prelates are gay men who let their own struggles play out in damaging ways. So, Mickens contends, it is not safe to assume gay priests at large would welcome Fiducia Supplicans. But perhaps, he writes, this is the point:

“With the publication of Fiducia supplicans, an elderly Jesuit pope from Latin America has opened up a hornet’s nest of controversy which is buzzing most furiously among the Catholic clergy, especially in the upper echelons. He has lanced the boil of homophobia that is so evident within their ranks, among men to whom many of us can only declare, ‘You do protest too much.'”

Jesuit Priest Engages People Conflicted Over Blessings

Another essay comes from Jesuit Fr. Joe Hoover, poetry editor at America, who takes up the question of Catholics’ assent to papal teaching, cognizant there are different levels of authority and importance. Hoover asks, “Do you have to believe everything the church teaches if it does not align with the evidence of your own personal theological radar?” Certainly, assent to dogmas like the Incarnation are easier; assenting to lesser questions of ethics, perhaps not so much. To this, Hoover offers his own troubles:

“My own ‘credo’ to this teaching has not been easy to come by. I was disappointed that the Vatican appeared to circumvent the entire synodal process in making this declaration. A decision on a knotty theological problem handed down suddenly ‘from above’ clearly undermines the church’s new process of gathering input ‘from below’ to deal with, among other things, knotty theological problems. . .

“By ‘I believe!’ I do not mean necessarily an instant ‘I agree!’ with whatever the church says whenever it says it. God knows, those days are probably over. But when it comes to such challenging church pronouncements, maybe a Cartesian, atomized, capitalist, great-man-theorist, solo-cockpit, bootstrappy, everything-on-my-own-terms, late-modern Christian disciple like myself can at least declare: ‘I believe that God is in there. I believe that God’s will is at work.’

Hoover turns to Ignatian spirituality as a basis for “listening carefully to [the church’s] difficult proposals, trying to find what is good, asking for clarification and being patient with its failings.” He argues for “coherence about theology and liturgy and pastoral practice—it matters,” but ultimately argues, “To echo what Gamaliel said to the Sanhedrin about the first disciples [in the Acts of the Apostles], let this declaration go. Cast it out from the hyper-analytical and schismatic fears of the mind. If it is of human origin, it will fragment and fade away. But if it comes from God, nothing on earth can drive it off.”

Finally, Hoover concludes with a nod to humility:

“And the act of asking for a blessing from someone who is not me, seeking metaphysical help from a priest, acknowledging that there is a truth beyond that which I can formulate myself: All of that agitates against the very same ego-driven, atomized, self-sufficient, Western, bootstrappy ‘I am my own church’ attitude of the late-modern liberal consensus.

“Two people go up to a priest and say, in effect: ‘We know the church considers our union sinful. It does not approve, and will not endorse. But from that church, we want a blessing anyway. Why? Because we need it.’

“You want belief, you want humility? There it is. Right there. Credo.”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, March 20, 2024