Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller ripped into a recent document that allows same-sex couples to receive a blessing, Breitbart reported. Müller believes Fiducia Supplicans amounts to tacit support for sinful unions.
In an essay released Thursday, Müller asserted that the papal document now gives "an affirmation that has no precedent in the teaching of the Catholic Church." The document outlines a prescription to bless "couples who live in a sexual relationship outside of marriage, including same-sex couples."
To the cardinal, who is the former prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, believes this amounts to acceptance of such unions in a way that stops just shy of changing the church's teachings. The Catholic Church cannot bless unions that are objectively sinful, including same-sex relationships.
However, Müller believes Fiducia Supplicans is a way to circumvent that obstacle. The cardinal said the Vatican "proposes an original solution: to broaden the concept of a blessing."
A blessing is a sacramental and does not carry the same weight as the sacrament of marriage. However, Müller believes that outlining new rules for such a blessing is just as damaging.
The cardinal noted that the Vatican has bent "the concept of blessings in such a way as to trivialize sin, especially in an ideologically charged cultural situation that also misleads the faithful." Müller warned that "this change of meaning is precisely what happens in FS, which invents a new category of blessings beyond those associated with either a sacrament or a blessing as the Church has understood them."
Blessings of individuals have always been part of the church's ministry in a way that is separate from whatever their main sins were. However, Fiducia Supplicans is written in such a way that it encourages parties engaged in these unholy unions to be blessed together.
That means fornicators, same-sex attracted individuals, and those in an "extramarital relationship" could come with their lovers to receive the new type of pastoral blessing. Müller said this opens the door to other troubling abuses of priestly blessings.
"In fact, according to the criterion of this type of blessings, one could even bless an abortion clinic or a mafia group," the cardinal said. "Notice that not only sinful persons are blessed here, but that by blessing the couple, it is the sinful relationship itself that is blessed."
The church teaches that "God cannot send his grace upon a relationship that is directly opposed to him and cannot be ordered toward him," Müller said. "Sexual intercourse outside of marriage, qua sexual intercourse, cannot bring people closer to God and therefore cannot open itself to God’s blessing," he added.
"Therefore, if this blessing were given, its only effect would be to confuse the people who receive it or who attend it. They would think that God has blessed what He cannot bless," Müller explained.
Even if the blessing is for the individuals within the relationship and not the union itself, Müller believes the lack of understanding of the nuance among the laity will cause untold harm. Those most susceptible to the message will see it as an acceptance of something that is objectively sinful, which is a grave scandal to the faithful.
Müller laments that this document can only exist "if one believes that such unions are not objectively contrary to the law of God." Because Fiducia Supplicans is "self-contradictory," the cardinal urges Pope Francis and the Vatican to provide "further clarification."
Faithful Catholics are continually disheartened by the things that come from the Vatican that appear to be contrary to the faith. Now more than ever, the world needs the constancy and steadfastness of the Roman Catholic Church, but the people in charge seem to be committed to the contrary.
