I think the fake news is trying to tell you something.
Yay! Gay sex is now totally cool with the Vatican, which means God is totally cool with it, right?
Buried deep in the stories is the actual context.
But first, some background we'll give you that fake news won't.
You must understand what a "blessing" is in Catholicism. A blessing is a rite involving a ceremony and prayers that holds the weight of the authority of the Church. In essence, the Church has the power to provide access to God's grace - likewise, withholding rites and sacraments separates them from the Church (the Body of Christ) and as a consequence, the blessings conferred therein. If a layman were to give a blessing, it would be "an appeal to God which has nothing to recommend it but the merits of personal sanctity." In essence, if I bless someone, it's a nice gesture but it does not hold power. That is reserved for those who hold ecclesiastical office, and so guidelines on how to administer blessings are needed.
Non-Catholic Christians do not believe this, but believe in varying degrees of the priesthood of all believers - that the Kingdom and Spirit of God, along with God's authority, rest in every one who has accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Some, like Presbyterians, have an ordered hierarchy with clergical authority. Others, like Baptists, are suspicious of hierarchy after centuries of persecution and promote the equality of all believers.
I'm not here to weigh the merits of hierarchy against the equality of believers enshrined in men like William Tyndale, who once told another Catholic priest, "I will cause a boy that driveth the plough" to "know more of the Scripture than thou."
In my church (I'd best be described as a Reformed Baptist who was catechized in a Lutheran church, attends a Wesleyan congregation, and is married into a Catholic family HAHA), we do not have the same order of hierarchy as the Catholic Church. If a gay man were to come into our service and ask for prayer (and blessings) from one of our prayer-team members, it would be readily given. Not for the sin of living outside of God's design for sexuality, mind you, but for this person to find healing in Christ and for Him to bless them by showing Himself to them in their lives.
Catholic priests have a more rigid approach, for the rites and authority of Rome lay heavy upon anything they do, but they have that same desire to reach out to those seeking Christ but are living in deep sin.
(Understand that I am not trying to be divisive or anti-Catholic here. I'm simply saying that with more bureaucracy comes more necessity for extended guidelines and clarifications.)
With that context in mind, let us turn to what the Vatican released regarding the "blessing of couples in irregular situations and 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.
In such cases, a blessing may be imparted that not only has an ascending value but also involves the invocation of a blessing that descends from God upon those who recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Vatican is saying that this is not a blessing of the sin they are living in, but a blessing for those who "recognize themselves to be destitute and in need of his help" that will pray before the throne of God for "all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and in their relationships" to be healed and guided by the Spirit.
These forms of blessing express a supplication that God may grant those aids that come from the impulses of his Spirit what classical theology calls "actual grace" so that human relationships may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties, and that they may express themselves in the ever-increasing dimension of the divine love.
The Vatican also placed limitations for these blessings, specifying that they are not to be confused with a blessing for the Sacrament of Marriage.
One should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation. At the same time, one should not prevent or prohibit the Church's closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God's help through a simple blessing. In a brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue, and mutual assistance but also God's light and strength to be able to fulfill his will completely.
Again, for most non-Catholics, especially in the evangelical world, this is a no-brainer. If a trans Antifa member, feeling broken in their own sin, seeks help by walking up to a prayer-team member or a pastor and asks that God would help them, heal their relationships, help them find prosperity in their career, I can't think of a single fellow believer I know who would turn them down.
The Vatican, in this heretical Protestant's eyes, seems to be providing clarity on when and how to bless a person living in relational sin without blessing the sin itself.
In any case, precisely to avoid any form of confusion or scandal, when the prayer of blessing is requested by a couple in an irregular situation, even though it is expressed outside the rites prescribed by the liturgical books, this blessing should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them. Nor can it be performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding. The same applies when the blessing is requested by a same-sex couple.
Again, separating it from the rituals used at a wedding ceremony.
This is good!
It's a course-correction to some woke churches in places like Germany that want to call same-sex relationships "marriages."
It's also important to note here that a man and woman living together and having sex before marriage is as much a sin in God's eyes as two women being "married" to each other. In the same way, casual one-night stands are just as damning as a trans "woman" being in a polyamorous relationship. Looking at pornography, likewise, condemns someone just as much as that DC staffer who filmed a gay porno in the Senate hearing room.
Or have you forgotten what Jesus said?
But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
And what about His apostle, Paul?
No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
The fact that I believe the Catholic Church isn't being harsh enough in its language condemning sexual sin doesn't mean it's fully adopting the LGBT agenda.
Catholics took notice of this on social media 👇
Such a blessing may instead find its place in other contexts, such as a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group, or during a pilgrimage. Indeed, through these blessings that are given not through the ritual forms proper to the liturgy but as an expression of the Church's maternal heart similar to those that emanate from the core of popular piety- there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one's life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.
What has been said in this Declaration regarding the blessings of same-sex couples is sufficient to guide the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers in this regard. Thus, beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.
With all this said, I understand that Francis has earned the title "Woke Pope."
I am not defending his slide toward inclusion and niceness at all costs, especially when the Gospel is the most exclusive, offensive thing in all the universe.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
...
The gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
...
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
From my perspective, Pope Francis has been afflicted with that mind virus of the Marxist sexual revolutionaries and it has thus seeped into his teachings and missives during his time as the Roman pontiff. Whether or not this drift is intentional or is just a "road paved to hell with good intentions," I'm not sure. I do not know the man's heart.
All I know is biblical authorities like Paul warn us of sin like this:
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Regardless of Francis's heart, I see here a largely moderate and well-versed guideline for priests navigating a divisive issue. My problem, then, is not so much with the Vatican.
My problem is with "priests" like this:
And the media that want us to openly celebrate sexual sin (and get Christians to celebrate it too so they feel better and more justified about such sin).
From the AP:
But it says requests for such blessings should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive definition of the term "blessing" in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy should not be subject to "an exhaustive moral analysis" as a precondition for receiving it.
It's clear that the fake news wants us to be VERY excited for this "shift" in the Catholic Church, largely because their entire goal is to undermine the Catholic Church.
If the Vatican and Francis cannot see that, woe to them.
PS: At the risk of making this THE LONGEST ARTICLE EVER, I want to include this good analysis from Pastor James White that my coworker Harris Rigby found. He elaborates more on how this policy could (as in, will most likely) still shift the Vatican leftward:
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