Q Toon: But Only One at a Time

 

An interviewer from La Stampa asked Pope Francis about objections raised by conservative cardinals, bishops, and scholars in Africa and the U.S. to his approval of clergy blessing same-sex couples. I've included part of his reply verbatim (very slightly edited at the ellipsis).

Lest one mistake the Pope for Revrunt Marryin' Elvis at Our Lady of the Las Vegas Strip, he explained his reasoning in the interview:

"The Gospel is to sanctify everyone," he said. "Of course, there must be goodwill. And it is necessary to give precise instructions on the Christian life (I emphasize that it is not the union that is blessed, but the persons). But we are all sinners: why should we make a list of sinners who can enter the Church and a list of sinners who cannot be in the Church? This is not the Gospel."

His explanation did not sit well with the bouncers of the Roman Catholic Church. A group of 90 of these conservatives published a hysterically-worded letter this month, bemoaning that with this Pope's stance, "The threat does not become smaller but more serious, since the error comes from the Roman See, and is destined to scandalize all the faithful, and above all the little ones, the simple faithful who have no way of orienting and defending themselves in this confusion."

There is a long tradition of Popes summarily making sudden, unilateral changes to church guidelines. Not frequently, of course — consider how long it took them to realize that an omniscient God ought to be able to understand languages other than centuries-dead Latin. But sudden, significant changes in praxis date all the way back to St. Peter, the OG Pope, abruptly deciding that more people would be attracted to his religion if it ignored all those rules about not eating shellfish and pork.

Official changes to Catholic doctrine is not what blessings are all about, according to Father Chris Ponnet, chaplain to the LGBT ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"The church continues to maintain that the sacrament of marriage is between a man and a woman for the rest of their life," he says.
Ponnet, who is the archdiocese's chaplain to its gay and lesbian ministry, says he always declines to attend the civil weddings of same-sex couples he knows because he doesn't want there to be any confusion. He says the church is clear that it does not condone or recognize such marriages and that his presence could lead people to think "it's all OK."
What the pope is allowing, he adds, is similar to how priests bless all sorts of things, such as homes, a new school year and pets.
"It's simply saying that we who believe in blessings," Ponnet says, "should be instruments of blessings to others."
And he says it's important to be clear and precise about exactly what priests are blessing and what they are not blessing. "We're not blessing the relationship," he says. "We're blessing the individuals in front of us. And I appreciate the pain that that causes, and I don't know how to get around that." 

It may take more centuries than Fr. Ponnet nor you nor I are likely to witness, but I have faith that someday, even the Roman Catholic Church will figure out how to get around that.