The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the declaration Fiducia Supplicans on Dec. 18, which permitted “spontaneous” nonliturgical blessings of “same-sex couples.” The declaration reaffirmed the Church’s teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman and maintained the prohibition on any liturgical or semi-liturgical ceremonies for such couples.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect for the dicastery, wrote in a note above the declaration’s introduction that the guidelines imply “a real development from what has been said about blessings in the magisterium and the official texts of the Church.”
Fernández added that these blessings are for those who “do not claim a legitimation of their own status but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Bishops around the world have been divided on how to properly implement the document and some bishops, mostly in Africa, are refusing to implement it entirely.
The bishops’ conferences in the African countries of Malawi, Zambia, and Cameroon announced they will not implement the declaration. Bishops in Ghana and Kenya have not refused implementation but have emphasized that the Church maintains its disapproval of homosexual activities.
In his letter, Rivers acknowledged that the declaration did not alter the Catholic doctrine on marriage, but he argued that permitting the blessings of homosexual couples bestows some level of legitimacy on the partnership.