(LifeSiteNews) — A Russian Orthodox bishop has said that Fiducia Supplicans is “dangerous” and “misleading” and that it diminishes the chances of reunion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
“My initial impression [of Fiducia Supplicans] was a kind of a shock because… we always cite the Roman Catholic Church as a beacon of traditional Christianity,” Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary said in a recent interview with former Catholic turned Orthodox Rod Dreher.
He said that the Vatican declaration purporting to allow “blessings” of same-sex “couples” under certain conditions “is indeed a revolution.”
“This is indeed a big change,” he continued. “And I personally think that it is a very unfortunate change because, as you said, it is a trap. It is a loophole. And it gives the opportunity to those priests who want to bless homosexual couples to do this.”
Hilarion, who was until recently responsible for ecumenical relations between the Catholic and the Russian Orthodox Church, said that Fiducia Supplicans would mislead the faithful.
READ: FULL LIST: Where do bishops stand on blessings for homosexual couples?
“It will mislead those who receive this blessing, and it will also mislead those who become, willingly or unwillingly, witnesses of such a blessing because everyone will believe that now the Church blesses homosexual couples.”
“While these blessings will be misleading to the people, they will also be dangerous for the spiritual integrity of those people who receive these blessings because they will be made to believe that the Church approves of this lifestyle, of this type of sexual orientation, and not only orientation, but the sexual behavior,” he stated.
“And I can predict that very soon it will become a big business, a big industry in the Catholic Church because it will be on demand,” Hilarion said. “Such priests will be very popular in certain circles, and they will practice these blessings, so to speak, with the permission from the Vatican.”
When asked by Dreher if he thinks the Vatican document approved by Pope Francis will put “an end to the possibility of any sort of reunion between Rome and the Orthodox churches,” Hilarion said, “I think, realistically speaking, we should not hope for any reunion between the Catholics and the Orthodox.”
“We can modestly hope for some sort of better understanding, better mutual understanding. But of course, such steps, they certainly are not going to bring us any closer. On the contrary, they will create new dividing lines, new problems, and it will be more difficult to engage in a fruitful dialog after such statements have been made.”