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Mr. Karamazov's avatar

"regardless of whether the pope’s July 11 letter was permissive or restrictive on same-sex blessings in principle, the pontiff himself has already been at least passively permissive on the subject in practice, without any public response to the European dioceses where the practice is quickly becoming enshrined as a matter of course. "

This is it right here isn't it? I read the dubia response, and it seems perfectly fine to me. Even beautiful in parts. Yes if a person is approaching the Church for a blessing, that shows a desire for God. It shows that the person desires to be a part of the Church. This is good. But the pope also clearly says that this can't become something that is viewed as a blessing of sin (reading both statements together). He also says in BOTH statements that this sort of blessing shouldn't become a normative thing because it would then become impossible not to cause confusion. This all seems right to me.

But then the realities in the Church smack up against it. You have bishops all over blessing actual sin while claiming they're doing so with the pope's (at least tacit) approval. This is intolerable. The primary role of the pope is to confirm the brethren and be the visible sign of unity in the Church. He is failing to do that. And his inaction has very real consequences for the entirety of the Church.

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Aidan T's avatar

Dumb question: what is a blessing? When my parish priest blesses my rosary beads, what is conferred on the beads? When he blesses my house?

What would happen if he tried to bless something sordid, like a brothel?

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