In his weekly Letter from Rome entitled 'Blessing and Curses', Mickens says, "We do not have to wait for permission.

"The Church is vaster and much more diversified than we sometimes want to acknowledge."

Many LGBTQ+ Catholics and their supporters were extremely upset by the recent CDF explanatory note attached to the Responsum of March 15.

The CDF statement said the Catholic Church does not "have the power to give the blessing (sic.) to unions of persons of the same sex."

But, according to Mickens, there are places in almost every diocese in the world where divorced and remarried couples are warmly welcomed to receive the Eucharist.

And there are places where gays, lesbians and transgender persons are accepted just as openly.

There are also priests who are more than happy to bless unions between same-sex couples, Mickens said.

But these places fly under the radar, and an effort needs to be made to find them.

Still, he says, many Catholics are reluctant to do anything unless they get permission from clergy or unless the Church gives official approval.

However, according to Mickens, the problem is not what was published on March 15.

"The real stumbling block is the Vatican's official teaching on all human sexuality and the deeply flawed philosophy and anthropology that undergird it."

"Yet the Vatican insists that the Church's teaching on human sexuality continue to be based on bad science and a physicalist interpretation of so-called 'natural law."

Mickens continues, "to put it crudely, it deems that any sexual act that is not, by its very nature, designed for and open to procreation is gravely sinful."

The good news is that Pope Francis has already opened up a process to re-evaluate the Church's understanding and teaching about human sexuality.

It started with the 2014 and 2015 Synod assemblies on the family.

This led to the 2016 publication of the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia.

There are also some Vatican sources who say the Pope was distancing himself from the CDF statement on same-sex unions in his Angelus on March 21.

Sources

• La Croix International
• CathNews

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on March 15 published a document reiterating the Vatican's longstanding position that it is "illicit" for Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions.

God "does not and cannot bless sin", the responsum said.

There is some support to the responsum from within the church hierarchy.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican's laity office, concurred with the pronouncement that a "blessing" is a sacramental action. It relates to the marriage sacrament, which the church teaches can only be celebrated between a man and a woman.

Farrell said civil unions are not "marriages" as the Catholic Church understands the term. He stressed: "I do want to insist that nobody be excluded from the pastoral care and love of the church."

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley and head of the Vatican's development office, Cardinal Peter Turkson, pointed to Francis' pastoral outreach to gay men and lesbians. But they repeated the church's position.

"The church has a very clear teaching about marriage that needs to be proclaimed," O'Malley said during an online panel discussion organized by Georgetown University.

However, bishops from several different countries immediately criticised the CDF intervention calling it "unacceptable", hurtful and clumsy.

"I feel ashamed for my church. I mainly feel intellectual and moral incomprehension," said Bishop Johan Bonny, 65, of Antwerp (Belgium).

"Controlling who can or cannot receive God's blessing is inadequate and wrong," said Franz Kreissl, director of pastoral services for the Diocese of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg said he was "unhappy" with the new note published by the Vatican.

In the USA, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago underlined that the CDF note offers "nothing new on the Church's teaching".

"This should prompt us in the Church to redouble our efforts. We need to be creative and resilient in finding ways to welcome and encourage all LGBTQ people in our family of faith," the 72-year-old cardinal emphasized.

In France, the publication of the CDF text has aroused a sense of anger in LGBTQ+ Christian movements and associations.

"What is disappointing is that we had the feeling that some things were moving on the ground, especially in dialogue with the dioceses," lamented Cyrille de Compiègne, spokesperson for the Association David & Jonathan.

Sources

• La Croix
• AP News
• Religion News