Pope Francis: Bless the persons, not the union
By Joseph Tulloch
Pope Francis addressed the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Friday, as the department brought its annual plenary assembly to a close.
Thanking officials for their 鈥減recious work鈥, the Pope recalled that, in his , he divided the Dicastery into two sections, one concerned with Doctrine and the other with Discipline.
It was the former subject, the Pope said, that he wanted to touch on in his address, and he offered a number of thoughts organised around three words: 鈥楽acraments鈥, 鈥榙ignity鈥, and 鈥榝aith鈥.
New document from DDF
The first word that Pope Francis touched on in his address was 鈥楽acraments鈥.
The Sacraments, he said, 鈥渇eed and make grow the life of the Church鈥, he said, and thus require 鈥渟pecial care鈥 on the part of those who administer them.
鈥淟et us," the Pope urged the DDF officials, 鈥渓ove and cherish the beauty and saving power of the Sacraments!鈥
Pope Francis then moved on to discuss dignity, noting that the DDF is 鈥渨orking on a document on this subject.鈥
鈥淚 hope,鈥 he said, 鈥渢hat it will help us, as a Church, to always be close to all those who, without fanfare, in concrete daily life, fight and personally pay the price for defending the rights of those who are disregarded.鈥
Proclaiming the Gospel today
The Pope鈥檚 third subject, faith, was the one he dwelt on for the longest period.
鈥淲e cannot hide the fact," he said, 鈥漷hat in large areas of the planet, faith, as Benedict XVI put it, no longer constitutes an obvious prerequisite for common living.鈥
Indeed, Pope Francis noted, faith is often 鈥渄enied, mocked, marginalised, and ridiculed.鈥
The proclamation and communication of faith in today's world, he said, must therefore take a number of factors into account.
In particular, Pope Francis specified the 鈥渘ew urban cultures, with their many challenges but also the unprecedented questions of meaning they raise鈥, the need for 鈥渕issionary conversion of ecclesial structures鈥, and, finally, 鈥渢he centrality of kerygma [鈥榩roclamation鈥橾 in the life and mission of the Church.鈥
鈥淚t is here," the Pope said, 鈥渢hat help is expected from this Dicastery.鈥
Pastoral blessings
It was "in this context of evangelisation,鈥 Pope Francis continued, that he wanted to mention the .
The purpose of the 鈥減astoral and spontaneous blessings鈥 discussed in the Declaration, the Pope stressed, is to 鈥渃oncretely show the closeness of the Lord and the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask for help to continue鈥攕ometimes to begin鈥攁 journey of faith.鈥
In this regard, the Pope emphasized two points.
Firstly, he said, 鈥渢hese blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, do not require moral perfection to be received.鈥
Secondly, he noted, 鈥渨hen a couple spontaneously approaches [a minister] and asks for them, he is not blessing the union, but simply the people who together have requested it.鈥
鈥淣ot the union,鈥 the Pope stressed, 鈥渂ut the persons, naturally taking into account the context, sensitivities, the places where one lives, and the most appropriate ways to do it.鈥
Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here
