Vatican Controversies: Moscow Patriarchate Criticizes Papal Document on Gay Couple Blessings

This time, the broadsides in the Vatican come from the Moscow Patriarchate, which demolishes the papal document that recently legitimized blessings for gay couples. "Certainly not a Christian practice," a "dangerous document." Pope Francis and his collaborators, oriented towards granting concrete signs of mercy to same-sex people, continue to face creeping opposition, recently culminating in a series of mutinies by entire episcopates determined not to implement the directives promoted by the Dicastery of the Faith. Three months after the publication of the text, the underground contrasts persist, also affecting ecumenical relations, and the Catholic opponents of the blessing to gays have received nothing less than the support of Moscow: Patriarch Kirill is convinced that the path taken contradicts Christian norms and the word of God. Such a chaotic situation for a papal document was not remembered. The Russian Orthodox Church (which already defined the West as permeated by Evil due to the persistent destruction of the traditional family formed by a man and a woman) thus continues to massively bombard the Declaration published by the Catholic Church in December. The president of the biblical-theological commission of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion, after having studied and thoroughly analyzed the document "Fiducia supplicans", entrusted to the Russian agency Ria Novosti, a vitriolic judgment: "It is a very serious departure from Christian moral norms". Moreover, "all this cannot but be perceived as a very dangerous signal, a concession by the leadership of the Catholic Church to those liberal circles that are trying to dictate their agenda to the Christian world." The theological commission appointed by Patriarch Kirill (the same one who blesses the bombs against Kiev) has come to the conclusion "that the Holy Scriptures cannot justify in any way this new practice". Moreover, the commission pointed out that in the text released by Pope Bergoglio it is not even clearly stated that gay couples should convert and radically change their lifestyle. Pope Francis in these months had to intervene several times to calm the spirits, repeating that the blessing is given to the individual gay and not to the couple. The Dicastery of the Faith also published a sort of manual to explain concretely how these signs must be made: the blessings must not last more than 10-15 seconds, practically less than the recitation of a Pater or a Gloria. Moreover, to avoid confusion with the sacrament of marriage, the blessing cannot be hosted during a liturgical celebration and cannot take place in church or in front of the altar to avoid confusion. The Vatican also emphasizes that blessings do not approve or justify the situation of sin in which the interested people find themselves. Yet despite the distinctions, that document has triggered a very heated debate that does not seem to subside. In the meantime, all the bishops of Africa have opposed and do not intend to follow the Vatican's indications. The Pope to quell the controversies has also noted that "no one is scandalized if an entrepreneur who exploits people is blessed, which is a very serious sin, while it happens if it is a homosexual. It is hypocrisy. The heart of the document is the welcome" however the protests continue. This time they come from Moscow and could deal a further negative blow to the already compromised ecumenical relations. The relationship between Patriarch Kirill and Francis is complex and difficult also because of the war in Ukraine and the position of the Greek Catholic Church in Kiev. If in 2016 Bergoglio and Kirill met in Havana, Cuba, to sign a historic document, today communications are limited to wishes for solemn festivities and some messages of courtesy through trusted ecclesiastics.