Pope Francis has made additional remarks on his view of gay marriage and said he does not bless homosexual marriage but two people who love each other. Speaking to the Italian magazine Credere, the Pope accused critics of hypocrisy and said nobody would complain if he blessed an entrepreneur who maybe exploits people, which is “a very serious sin,” but are furious when he gives the same blessing to a homosexual.
The Catholic Church leader declared that he blesses everyone and that nobody should be denied love and support, before adding that the most serious sins are those disguised behind angelic appearances.
The discussion with Credere has prompted criticisms, with some arguing that the Pope misrepresented Fiducia Supplicans, the declaration that appeared to permit Catholic priests to marry same-sex couples. Some clergy members said he had presented a “straw man” argument in claiming that the past declaration referred to blessing individuals when, in fact, it had explicitly addressed couples.
Written by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fiducia Supplicans states that “there is the possibility of blessings of couples in irregular situations and of same-sex couples.” Cardinal Fernández, however, noted that the blessings of such couples did not enjoy a status equal to marriage, and there should be no confusion between that holy sacrament and blessings, nor should there be “an expectation of the same moral conditions.”
Following the refusal by many clerics and churches to perform same-sex weddings, the Pope and Cardinal Fernández appealed for calm and emphasized that the blessings in question were intended for two individuals rather than for a couple. “When a couple spontaneously approaches to ask for them, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who together made the request,” Pope Francis said.
Fiducia Supplicans was condemned by many as a u-turn by the church, which in 2021 said it would not bless same-sex couples because it was “impossible” to bless sin.
