DUBLIN (LifeSiteNews) — The Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, has welcomed the Vatican’s recent declaration on blessings for same-sex “couples,” emphasizing that priests cannot refuse requests for such blessings.
On January 8, Archbishop Dermot Farrell issued his statement on Fiducia Supplicans, authored by current prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, encouraging priests of his archdiocese to familiarise themselves with the text on same-sex blessings. “Doing so,” Farrell wrote, “will allow you to gain a sense of the purpose and significance of the Declaration, which permits a priest to give ‘short and simple pastoral blessings – that are neither liturgical nor ritualised – of couples in irregular situations, (but not of their unions),’ underlining that these are blessings without a liturgical format which neither approve nor justify the situation in which these people find themselves.”
Quoting Fernández in the declaration, Farrell emphasized that while “prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different modalities of application” of blessing same-sex “couples,” that “not a total or definitive denial of this path” is an option for priests.
“In other words,” he continued, “we who are in ministry are to keep before our eyes our service of ‘the gift of blessing that flows from the Heart of Christ through his Church.’”
“I welcome the Declaration, and the subsequent clarification, which will help us minister to our brothers and sisters who long for the closeness and compassion of God,” Farrell concluded.
Read the full statement HERE.