No, Leo Did Not Reject Gay Blessings

There seems to be a concerted and coordinated effort to make Leo XIV into Pope Benedict or someone else he is not.

The most recent example comes in response to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who introduced a handout for distribution in his diocese, instructing priests and others how to conduct a “blessing celebration” for gays and remarried divorced people. This wasn’t just Marx doing it, but a result of a synodal assembly where 92% of the attendees voted for this.

What is important here is not that the Germans are raging anti-Catholic schismatics and heretics. We already knew that. For normal Catholics who speak the English language and possess basic reading comprehension skills, what matters is that the English-speaking Leo never said he rejected the concept of gay couple blessings. In fact, he said the opposite.

What Leo XIV Actually Said

Leo said with respect to this German effort to regularize gay couple blessings:

“The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all people receive blessings.” (Emphasis added).

Compare what Leo said to the Tucho Fernandez-authored and Francis-approved document Fiducia supplicans from 2023 under the Heading “Blessings of Couples in Irregular Situations and of Couples of the Same Sex”:

“Within the horizon outlined here appears the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex, the form of which should not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage.” (Para. 31).(Emphasis added).

Leo simply confirmed what was contained in Fiducia supplicans, nothing more, nothing less. Leo, like Francis, approved blessings for gay “couples,” whether they are civilly married or not. I realize that Leo tried to soften this blow by saying blessings are for all people but that is irrelevant to the point. As made clear in Fiducia supplicans, two members of the same sex in a relationship can present themselves as a “couple” for a blessing. The sleight of hand here is that Fernandez and Francis claim this is not a blessing of the “union” or fake marriage itself. It doesn’t matter in real life.

So, what was Leo rejecting with respect to the Marx handout? Leo was restating what Fiducia supplicans also says. You cannot perform these blessings in a formal or ritualistic manner. Not because the modernists think there is something wrong with these blessings by any stretch, but because it gives the wrong impression that somehow the Catholic Church is officially approving gay marriages, which is not politically or economically expedient at this moment in time.

The other point completely lost on Trad Inc. is that Francis and Leo wanted these changes, such as approval of formalized gay weddings, to come through the established synodal process that will culminate with the 2028 synodal assembly in Rome. The Germans, so eager to canonize sexual vice, are jumping the gun and undermining the “process.” That’s why Francis, and now Leo, are annoyed with the Germans right now.

While this latest German effort resulted from a synodal vote, official changes to doctrine need to come about after the world-wide synodal process has been completed in 2028. This is necessary because the entire manufactured justification for changing such established Church doctrine through synodality is that “the Spirit” is working through all the faithful to the extent they can claim the sensus fidei (sense of the faithful) authorized formalized gay and other disordered weddings.

Fiducia supplicans was always a stop gap along the road to formal synodal approval. If Marx did anything wrong according to Leo, it is that he is making the gay couple celebration too formal and, in that sense, goes beyond what Fiducia supplicans permits right now. And indeed, issuing a handout instructing his priests on how to perform a gay blessing, would seem to be a somewhat formal ritual even if the official “union” or “marriage” itself is not blessed.

The Trad Inc. Dishonest Response

All of this, of course, is absurd modernist claptrap. No real Catholic can go along with any of this insane sacrilege. What’s sad is that there are those in professional Catholic media that try to come up with a way to rehabilitate what Leo is doing. Case in point is Damian Thompson and the Rorate Caeli blog.

This is Gaslighting to an extreme. It’s also a lie. We are not crazy. Leo did not cut off Fiducia supplicans at the knees. Leo did not say “no” to anything. Nor did he forever close the door to formalized same-sex weddings.

What he said was that the Holy See does “not agree with the formalized blessing of couples” beyond what was contained in Fiducia supplicans. That’s it.

Leo’s intentions are clear. What’s not clear is why does Trad Inc. insist on insulting the rest of the Catholic world and undermine our ability to evangelize by lying about something so obvious?

Honesty is Always the Best Policy

As mentioned in my last article, there are many truth seekers out there desperate to jump on the Apostolic Catholic ship for the salvation of their souls and the world. They see what Catholicism used to stand for before Vatican II and want to be a part of something like that just as much as traditional Catholics want it back.

Then after reading and listening to Francis and Leo routinely kowtow to the vices of the modern secular culture, they read absurd, dishonest opinions like those mentioned above who claim to defend Catholic tradition.

The point is that Trad Inc.’s failure to be open and honest about the crisis in the Church has major repercussions for the Church and the world. This isn’t a game. Are these people who claim to defend tradition going to start defending Christ’s social kingship and Church doctrine or not? If not, it’s time to get out of the way for others to take the lead.

For more background on Fiducia supplicans, check out my videos from a couple of years ago: