Joachin Meisner Hertz
(ZENIT News / Brussels, 20.09.2022).- Going against the Pope’s will and the Doctrine of the Catholic Church, Belgian Bishops published a Blessing for same sex couples. A February 2021 note of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, responded negatively to the question: “Does the Church have the power to impart a Blessing to unions of same sex persons?
This is the “Blessing” published by the Belgian Bishops (translated into English by ZENIT):
Prayer for Love and Fidelity
During pastoral meetings, a moment of prayer is usually requested to ask God to bless and perpetuate this commitment of love and fidelity. The content and the form that this Prayer can adopt specifically is best discussed with those involved with a pastoral leader. That moment of prayer can take place with all simplicity. The difference must also be made clear, with which the Church understands sacramental marriage. For example, this moment of prayer could unfold in the following way:
O Opening Word
O Opening Prayer
O Scripture Reading or Commitment of the Two People Involved.
Together they express before God their commitment to one another. For example:
“God of love and fidelity, we are before You today surrounded by family members and friends. We thank you that we were able to meet. We want to be there for others in all life’s circumstances. We express here with confidence that we want to work for the happiness of the other day by day. We ask You: give us strength to be faithful to one another and to deepen our commitment. We trust in Your closeness, we want to live of your Word, given to the good.
O Prayer of the Community
The community prays for the grace of God to act in them to take care of each other and the larger community in which they live. For example:
God and Father, we surround N. and N. with our prayer. You know their hearts and the path they will undertake henceforth. Make their commitment to the other strong and faithful. May their home be full of understanding, tolerance and care. May there be room for reconciliation and peace. May the love they share bring joy and service in our community. Give us the strength to follow the path with them, together in the footsteps of your Son and strengthened by your Spirit. o Intercessions o Our Father
O Final Prayer
O Wishing Blessings
What does the Church say?
The note of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith states in summary that:
“[…] to be coherent with the nature of the Sacraments, when a Blessing is invoked on some human relations, needed – beyond the right attention of those participating – is that what is blessed is objectively and positively ordered to receive and express the grace, according to God’s designs, inscribed in Creation and fully revealed by Christ the Lord. Therefore, only those realities that are in themselves ordered to serve these designs are compatible with the essence of the Blessing imparted by the Church.
Hence, it is not licit to impart a Blessing to relationships or couples including stable ones, which imply a sexual practice outside of marriage (namely, outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman, open of itself, to the transmission of life), as is the case of unions between same sex persons. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which in themselves are to be appreciated and valued, is not able, however, to justify them and make them the licit object of an Ecclesial Blessings, because such elements are at the service of a union not ordered to God’s design.”
Translation of the original into Spanish by ZENIT’s Editorial Director and, into English, by Virginia M. Forrester
