In response to a press release issued by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on January 4. “Fiducia supplicans” declarationCardinal Gerhard Müller said Fernandez's attempts to justify the “blessing” of same-sex couples remained “problematic”.
“The negative reaction of a large part of the bishops and leading lay people to the recommendations issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the personal blessing of those in sinful partnerships should be a cause for concern for those responsible in Rome,” the cardinal wrote. Mueller in a statement to the media.
A problematic blessing
Defending the recommendations contained in the controversial declaration, Cardinal Fernández noted that “Fiducia supplicans” calls on clergy “to distinguish between two different forms of blessing: 'liturgical or ritualized' and 'spontaneous or pastoral'”.
Declaring that “pastoral blessings” should above all be “very short” to distinguish them from “liturgical or ritual blessings,” Cardinal Fernandez suggested that they should last less than 15 seconds. In addition, he gave an example of a blessing formula. .
However, according to Cardinal Müller, the distinction between liturgical-official blessings and private-pastoral blessings of extramarital sexual relations “remains problematic.”
“The proposed 15-second blessing with the sign of the cross and the invocation of the names of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is described as a personal prayer for the help of God, who always wants to drive us away from sin. and desires our eternal salvation. Any layman can recite this prayer over others,” the German cardinal wrote.
“However, the priest must be careful that his consecration in the name of the Church is not instrumentalized by secular-ideological and ecclesiastical-heretical pressure groups interested only in undermining the truth of the proclaimed faith,” the cardinal added. Muller.
Also read:
Cardinal Muller: If Benedict XVI was still Pope, this would never have happenedAlso read:
“blasphemy”. After the Pope's decision, the cardinal did not mince words
(tags translate)müller