This post comments on an article at LifeSiteNews as follows: Bishop Strickland on same-sex ‘blessings’: God does not and cannot bless sin .

The question arises whether the Church can or should bless LGBTQ persons, or same-sex couples, or same-sex unions. I object to the position stated in the LifeSiteNews article. The article
(1) does not distinguish between persons and unions;
(2) cites two assertions from the Congregation or Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and judges between them; and
(3) arrogantly asserts that their interpretation of the “perennial and unchanging teaching of the Church” and the “Sacred Deposit of Faith” is certainly correct — in opposition to one statement from the Prefect of the CDF and in opposition to any teaching or decision of discipline that might be issued by the Synod on Synodality, the Pope, or the body of Bishops with the Pope.

1. Persons versus Unions

We are all sinners. The Church does not reserve blessings only for the holiest of the faithful. Suppose that the Pope visits a prison, containing some Catholic Christians, some non-Catholics, other believers and some non-believers. Does the Lord Jesus and His teachings in the sacred deposit of faith prevent the Pope from blessing all the prisoners at that prison? Must the Pope determine which prisoners are repentant, and only bless those persons?

The answer is that the Church and Her ministers rightly bless any and all human persons, even sinners in prison for serious crimes. For Christ offers salvation to all human persons; not all accept and ultimately obtain that salvation, but the offer is universal. God wills all human persons to be saved. God blesses all human persons, from the most innocent to the most sinful. Christ died for all, even though some reject the offer of this salvific sacrifice. Therefore, the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is a great blessing offered to all human persons without exception.

In the Sacrament of Baptism, the person in a fallen stated, conceived with original sin, is given the great blessing of the state of grace, the accompanying virtues, forgiveness from all sin and all punishment due for those sins, and is therefore placed firmly upon the path of salvation. This Sacrament is given to anyone, including infants and children, and including great sinners, if they are willing to be baptized into Christ and His Church.

In the Sacrament of Penance (Confession), the repentant sinner is blessed with the Sacrament of Forgiveness for all sin (in the case of a good confession). The matter of this Sacrament is two-fold: sin itself and contrition for that sin. If you have not sinned, you cannot receive this Sacrament (e.g. the Virgin Mary; infants and toddlers; maybe Saint Joseph or John the Baptist). Only sinners are given this Sacrament, and its main purpose is salvific, to bring persons from the state of unrepented actual mortal sin to contrition, forgiveness, and the state of grace again. What a great blessing given to all sinners, no matter how bad the sin.

God gives His prevenient grace to all, even to the worst sinners. The reason that a person might be guilty of a grave sin, is that God gave that person the prevenient grace needed to know right from wrong, and to be able to choose what is right — otherwise, they would not be guilty of sin without the reception of that prevenient grace, and their own deliberate and knowing sinful act despite God’s prevenient grace and despite the offer of subsequent grace which was rejected when the person did sin.

So it cannot be said that the Lord Jesus, Son of God, would never bless a person who is gay or who is trans, or who is in a disordered relationship (including heterosexual couples living in sin, the divorced and remarried, same-sex couples, etc.). The blessing of a person, a couple of persons, a family, is certainly within the authority and mission of the Church, and is in keeping with the mission given to the Church by Christ. The Church might withhold a particular formal blessing in certain cases, not because the blessing of any person would be inherently wrong or necessarily invalid, but only if confusion might cause some harm to the weak in faith (cf. 1 Cor 8:1-13).

In further support of this position, consider these Scripture passages:

[Luke]
{6:27} But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.
{6:28} Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who slander you.

Even is someone is cursing believing and practicing Christians, we are instructed by Scripture and by the first Roman Pontiff to bless them — even if they hate, and curse, and slander, we must bless.

[Acts]
{3:26} God raised up his Son and sent him first to you, to bless you, so that each one may turn himself away from his wickedness.”

Notice that the risen Lord Jesus, Son of God, is sent by the Father to bless “each one”, even before they have turned away from wickedness.

[Romans]
{4:7} “Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.
…
{12:14} Bless those who are persecuting you: bless, and do not curse.

But God’s blessing is given to sinners so that they will repent and be forgiven, not so that they might be confirmed in grave sin. Therefore, any blessings given, in such a circumstance that sinners might misunderstand and think that such blessings approve of sin or imply that gravely immoral acts are not really immoral, should be avoided, due to the circumstances. But this principle does not make such a blessing necessarily always wrong.

Notice again that we must bless those who persecute Christians. So we bless even before a person repents. Then, if they repent, God forgives and blesses them all the more. Blessings are more effective in the repentant sinner, but blessings can also bring great sinners to great repentance.

[1 Cor]
{4:11} Even to this very hour, we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and repeatedly beaten, and we are unsteady.
{4:12} And we labor, working with our own hands. We are slandered, and so we bless. We suffer and endure persecution.
{4:13} We are cursed, and so we pray. We have become like the refuse of this world, like the reside of everything, even until now.

The Church blesses sinners, rightly so.

[Matthew]
{10:12} Then, when you enter into the house, greet it, saying, ‘Peace to this house.’
{10:13} And if, indeed, that house is worthy, your peace will rest upon it. But if it is not worthy, your peace will return to you.

As Jesus tells us, if a blessing of peace to a house, or family, or couple, or individual falls upon an unworthy person — a person who is unresponsive to the graces offered by God in that blessing, then the blessing is not received. But the person who blessed did not err, as proven by the blessing of peace returning to the person who blessed.

We know that God gives many good things even to unrepentant sinners. So this passage does not propose that God cannot or does not help the unrepentant in their lives. And perhaps most unrepentant sinners do cooperate with actual graces, to some extent, from time to time, at least haltingly or intermittently. This limited cooperation with grace might later lead to a full cooperation with grace and to repentance from grave sin. But even when God knows that a particular person will end up in Hell, the merciful good God acts according to His own good Nature and blesses that person bountifully in their life.

2. Two opinions from two different Prefects of the CDF

LifeSiteNews: “All of this brings us to the upcoming Synod on Synodality which is emerging as an attempt by some to change the focus of Catholicism from eternal salvation of souls in Christ, to making every person feel affirmed regardless of what choices they have made or will make in life. One of the topics that reportedly will be discussed during the Synod is the blessing of same-sex relationships. Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated in July 2023, when asked about blessings for homosexual couples: “If a blessing is given in such a way that it does not cause that confusion, it will have to be analyzed and confirmed.” However, we must look to the perennial and unchanging teaching of the Church—such a blessing would not be licit and, therefore, would undoubtedly cause confusion. In fact, the very same office, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith, released a statement on March 15, 2021, entitled Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex. In this Responsum, the previous Prefect of the Congregation, Luis Cardinal Ladaria, stated that God “does not and cannot bless sin” and that, “For the above mentioned reasons, the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex in the sense intended above.” Because truth cannot change, we must acknowledge that the Dicastery cannot come to a different conclusion now which would overturn the original statement of truth from the same office. Truth is based on God’s Divine Word as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and as guarded by the Magisterium of the Church. Therefore, any attempt to permit blessings of same-sex unions would be an attack upon the Sacred Deposit of Faith.”

Consider the above two assertions by different Prefects from the CDF. The first assertion is on the topic of “blessings for homosexual couples.” The Prefect stated that is might be possible, depending on the circumstances, especially considering whether or not the blessing might cause confusion. This position is in agreement with my explanation above on the blessing of sinners.

The second assertion is that God does not bless sin itself, and therefore a sinful union itself cannot be blessed by the Church.

The two assertions do not actually conflict with one another. Persons, no matter what their sins, can be blessed, and the only exception would be in the evaluation of the circumstances, so as to not give the impression of blessing sin itself. A same-sex union cannot be blessed, in so far as that union is a sexual relationship, as this is sinful. The same can be said of sinful heterosexual relationships, such as couples living in sin. These persons can still be blessed, despite their sins. (Perhaps in such cases the individual should be blessed as individuals, not as couples.)

Trans persons can be blessed as can any other sinners, and we are all sinners. Persons who identify in some way as LGBTQ+ can be blessed, such as non-binary persons and many other identities. Even when such identities are contrary to the natural order established by God, the persons can be blessed.

And I will point out here that sins against religion are considered to be, in general, more sinful that other categories of sin. So those Catholics who sin against the Church by heresy, schism, resisting the Roman Pontiff, rejecting Ecumenical Councils, and leading many of the weak in faith into the same sins — these self-righteous self-proclaimed “most faithful” Catholics sin more gravely than the LGBTQ+ persons whom they malign.

3. The initially-quoted article from the LifeSiteNews staff arrogantly asserts that their interpretation of the “perennial and unchanging teaching of the Church” and the “Sacred Deposit of Faith” is certainly correct — in opposition to their probably misinterpreted statement from the Prefect of the CDF and in opposition to any teaching or decision of discipline that might be issued by the Synod on Synodality, the Pope, or the body of Bishops with the Pope.

First, it is schismatic in intention to reject, in advance, any decision by the Roman Pontiff, the body of Bishops teaching with him, or a particular Synod led by the Pope on doctrine or discipline. The Magisterium is exercised only by the Pope, the body of Bishops led by the Pope, or by individual Bishops teaching in conformity with the Pope and the body of Bishops. Individual Bishops who resist and oppose the Roman Pontiff or the body of Bishops teaching with him risk automatic excommunication and loss of all jurisdiction (Satis Cognitum 15) due to schism. Even if the teaching of the Pope or Bishops in a Synod are non-infallible, it is arrogant and sinful to resolve in advance to reject any teaching from the Magisterium that is contrary to one’s own understanding. Only the Magisterium is the authoritative interpreter of Tradition and Scripture and past magisterial teachings as well.

The LifeSiteNews article correctly states: “Truth is based on God’s Divine Word as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and as guarded by the Magisterium of the Church.” But this guarding by the Magisterium is an authority exercised only by the Pope and the Bishops. It is wrong for any person or group to claim that their interpretation of Tradition and Scripture is right, and an exercise of the Magisterium by the Pope and Bishops is supposedly an attack on Truth.

So the LifeSiteNews article is wrong to also state, in the very next sentence: “Therefore, any attempt to permit blessings of same-sex unions would be an attack upon the Sacred Deposit of Faith.”

The article as a whole seems to misunderstand the distinction between blessing persons, couples, families, other groups (such as prisoners, or even the whole world) and blessing inherently morally disordered unions or relationships. The latter is not permitted even in the case of heterosexual couples, and the former is permitted for LGBTQ+ persons, as I understand Church teaching. However, I will believe whatever the Magisterium teaches.

It is wrong for individual Catholics or organizations or other groups to set themselves up as the sole authoritative interpreters of Tradition, Scripture and the perennial teaching of the Church. That role was given by Christ to Peter and his successors, and to the other Apostles and their successors, with and under Peter. It is reprehensible for Catholic publications to set themselves up as judges over doctrine and discipline above the Roman Pontiff and the body of Bishops, judging even Ecumenical Councils and the Deposit of Faith itself.

Ronald L Conte Jr