CARDINAL MUELLER: FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS IS SELF-CONTRADICTORY

CARDINAL MUELLER: FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS IS SELF-CONTRADICTORY

As you will read in Pillar Catholic, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller in his essay for the Pillar,  says ‘Fiducia supplicans’ is ‘self-contradictory’.

Cardinal Mueller was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 2012 to 2017.

How can a Vatican document approved by the Pope be self-contradictory? He will explain but first, here is one way to understand two contradictory statements from the Vatican on one subject.

On Monday, December 18, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (DDF), with approval of Pope Francis, released the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans that said “it will be possible to bless same-sex couples but without any type of ritualization or offering the impression of a marriage. The doctrine regarding marriage does not change, and the blessing does not signify approval of the union. This gesture of pastoral closeness must avoid any elements that remotely resemble a marriage rite. The document explores the theme of blessings, distinguishing between ritual and liturgical ones, and spontaneous ones more akin to signs of popular devotion. It is precisely in this second category there is now consideration of the possibility of welcoming even those who do not live according to the norms of Christian moral doctrine but humbly request to be blessed.” (https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-12/fiducia-supplicans-doctrine-faith-blessing-irregular-couples.html)

The document caused much confusion in the universal Church precisely because, in March of 2021, the Vatican, noted many articies in the media, declared that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.” The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), issued a formal response to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions. The answer, contained in a relatively brief explanation, approved by the Holy Father Francis, was “negative.”

So, one question to which there are two answers from the Vatican, a YES and a NO.

It is important to note that the CDF, now the DDF, has a new prefect since this past September.

And now, Cardinal Mueller’s analysis: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/muller-fiducia-supplicans-is-self