Fr. Gerald E. Murray: Untangling Some Crucial Questions

By Fr. Gerald E. Murray, The Catholic Thing, Oct. 14, 2023

NOTE: To see more about the Synod on Synodality, click on EVENTS above and then, from the dropdown menu, THE VATICAN THING.

As all the world now knows, Cardinal Raymond Burke and four fellow cardinals (Brandmüller, Sarah, Sandoval, and Zen) sent five dubia (questions) to Pope Francis this past July. He responded almost immediately, leading several old Vatican hands to believe that the dubia had been anticipated. The dubia and the pope’s responses were not made public, however, until October 2nd, right before the opening of the current Synod on Synodality.  The responses include some very troubling assertions, especially about the blessing of same-sex unions. Pope Francis has, regrettably, authorized bishops and priests – after some undefined process of “discernment” – to confer a priestly blessing upon same-sex couples. In almost forty years of priestly life, I never dreamed that a pope would do this. I am horrified and saddened.

Pope Francis began his answer to the second of the dubia stating that “[t]he Church has a very clear understanding of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation. Only this union can be called ‘marriage.’” He calls marriage a “reality” that “has a unique essential constitution that requires an exclusive name, not applicable to other realities. . . .For this reason, the Church avoids any type of rite or sacramental that might contradict this conviction and suggest that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage.” …