Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ: Hypocrisy and Same-Sex Blessings

By Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, Catholic World Report, February 8, 2024

Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ is the Blessed Michael J. McGivney Chair in Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and served as executive director of the Secretariat of Doctrine and Canonical Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2013 to 2016.

Blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples is not analogous to blessing an individual businessman who may exploit people.

Today I saw the headline, “Pope denounces ‘hypocrisy’ of those who criticise LGBT blessings.” I found that disconcerting, because I have been critical of LGBT blessings. It grieves me to be regarded as a hypocrite by the Holy Father.

Why does Pope Francis call such criticism hypocrisy? He explains: “Nobody gets scandalised if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalised if I give them to a homosexual.” …