the bishops of the West ask to bless “individually, each of the two people”

The Vatican authorized the blessing of “same-sex couples” in mid-December. Calling for “a careful reading of the entire text”, the bishops of the Western dioceses ask not to bless the couple itself.

Catholic authorities in the West ask to bless homosexuals “individually” but not as a couple, in a document “explanation and advice”, consulted Friday January 5 by France Bleu Armorique. It was addressed to priests and deacons of the dioceses of Quimper, Rennes, Saint-Brieuc, Vannes, Angers, Laval, Le Mans, Luçon, Nantes.

Western diocese bishops react to Fiducia supplicans declaration “on the pastoral meaning of blessings”published on Monday December 18 by the Vatican. “Let’s not get caught up in the whirlwind of the varied reactions it arouses”, they write. In this document, the Vatican authorizes the possibility “to bless couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples”. But this blessing must be carried out outside of liturgical rituals “so as not to create confusion with the blessing specific to the sacrament of marriage”explains the text validated by Pope Francis.

“This declaration calls for a careful reading of the entire text on our part”, estimate the bishops of the Western dioceses. In the fourth part of their document, entitled “bless same-sex couples?”they consider that in our society “marriage has been trivialized by becoming a notion of civil law which ignores the founding specificity of sexual difference”. Then, they believe that they have “the mission of affirming in a prophetic way, with gentleness and respect, the great beauty of the design of God who created the human being, man and woman, and which Christ recalled”.

Thus, in order not to “not contribute to creating confusion”the Catholic authorities of the West ask to bless “individually, each of the two people forming a couple, whatever their sexual orientation” but not the couple themselves.

The ten signatories of this text: Pierre d’Ornellas, archbishop of Rennes, Raymond Centène, bishop of Vannes, Emmanuel Delmas, bishop of Angers, Laurent Dognin, bishop of Quimper, François Jacolin, bishop of Luçon, Denis Moutel, bishop of Saint-Brieuc, Laurent Percerou, bishop of Nantes, Jean-Pierre Vuillemin, bishop of Le Mans, Jean Bondu, auxiliary bishop of Rennes, Frédéric Foucher, diocesan administrator of Laval.