On Dec. 18, 2023, the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published Fiducia Supplicans, a declaration on the pastoral meaning of blessings. Some media headlines misconstrued the document, claiming that it allows priests to endorse relationships that are not in accord with Scripture or traditional Catholic teaching. However, Fiducia Supplicans (FS) does not change any part of Catholic teaching about marriage or sexuality. Adultery is still a sin. Homosexual activity is still a sin.

The same Vatican dicastery issued a press release on Jan. 4, 2024, to help clarify the reception of this document. Fiducia Supplicans goes to great lengths to reaffirm that “marriage is the exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children.” It firmly reasserts that “sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning” only in the context of this understanding of marriage. It says that any rites or prayers that could create confusion between marriage and what contradicts it are inadmissible (see FS, no. 4).

Fiducia Supplicans should be understood in light of the perennial teaching of the church. For example, it reaffirms the teaching of an earlier document from the same Vatican dicastery, the Responsum ad dubium dated Feb. 22, 2021, saying that “the church does not have the power to impart blessings on unions of persons of the same sex” (FS, no. 5). This remains the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Fiducia Supplicans seeks to bring about a new development in the theology of blessings. It offers an innovative distinction between two different forms of blessing: liturgical-ritual blessings and pastoral blessings. Liturgical-ritual blessings are officially promulgated by church authorities. These blessings require that which is blessed to be conformed with God’s will as expressed in the teachings of the church (FS, no. 9). For example, the blessing given by the priest or deacon in the sacrament of matrimony “is tied directly to the specific union of a man and a woman” (FS, no. 6). Liturgical-ritual blessings are based upon certain conditions, and they are not to be given in situations when the moral conditions are not met.

The document says, “Since the church has always considered only those sexual relations that are lived out within marriage to be morally licit, the church does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when that would somehow offer a form of moral legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an extra-marital practice” (FS, no. 11).
Pastoral blessings, as described by Fiducia Supplicans, are simple, spontaneous acts of devotion in the realm of popular piety. These blessings are meant for everyone; they do not have any requirements of moral perfection on the part of the recipients. Pastoral blessings are “offered to all without requiring anything” (FS, no. 27); thus, there are no preconditions to receive such a blessing. The ministers of the church have always given simple, informal, non-liturgical, pastoral blessings to people who request them.

When a priest or deacon gives a simple pastoral blessing to someone, it is not an endorsement of their behavior or a ratification of the life they lead. Rather, it is an expression of their need for God’s help. A priest or deacon may give a pastoral blessing to a person “even if he or she lives in situations that are not ordered to the Creator’s plan” (FS, no. 28). Such a pastoral blessing is not a sacrament; it is a sacramental. It does not condone or endorse sin, nor does it absolve from sin.

Some examples of situations when an ordained minister gives a pastoral blessing are when someone spontaneously approaches a priest on the street, at the store, at a shrine, or when people are on a pilgrimage or setting out on a journey.

Fiducia Supplicans teaches that only pastoral blessings, not liturgical-ritual blessings, may be given by ordained ministers to heterosexual persons who live together in a non-marital partnership or in a marriage that is not valid in the church, or to persons who live in same-sex relationships. Such a simple pastoral blessing “does not claim to sanction or legitimize anything” (FS, no. 34).
Fiducia Supplicans was issued on Dec. 18, 2023, signed by both Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. In its press release on Jan. 4, the dicastery stated that each local bishop has the role of discerning how to apply the teaching of this declaration in the concrete circumstances of his own local flock. Therefore, I am offering the following guidance for the Diocese of San Angelo.

Whenever an ordained minister is asked for a pastoral blessing by heterosexual persons who live together in a nonmarital partnership or in a marriage that is not valid in the church, or by persons who live in same-sex relationships, he should exercise pastoral prudence and take into consideration several important factors:

• He should be careful to avoid causing serious scandal or confusion among the faithful (FS, no. 30).
• There should not be any intention to validate a relationship or union or to legitimize anything (FS, no. 40).
• He should not use any liturgical or semi-liturgical action that would be similar to a sacrament (FS, no. 36).
• He should avoid any rite that might contradict the understanding of marriage that is offered by the Gospel (FS, no. 5).
• A pastoral blessing should never be given “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” (FS, no. 39).
• The pastoral blessing “must not take place in a prominent place within a sacred building, or in front of an altar” (press release, Jan. 4).
• He should not give the impression that he is approving or condoning any sinful sexual relationship, whether heterosexual or homosexual. Rather, he is simply responding to persons who are humbly asking for God’s help.
• He does not impose conditions and does not inquire about the intimate lives of these people (press release, Jan. 4).
• The pastoral blessing must be very short, lasting perhaps 10 or 15 seconds (press release, Jan. 4).
• In his pastoral blessing, he could offer a brief prayer in his own words, something like this: “Lord, look at these children of yours, grant them health, work, peace, and mutual help. Free them from everything that contradicts your Gospel and allow them to live according to your will. Amen”. Then it concludes with the sign of the cross on each of the two persons (press release, Jan. 4).
• He does not use the Book of Blessings or any official ritual book for these blessings.
• A pastoral blessing does not have officially established procedures, rituals, or protocols (FS, no. 37). It is just a simple, informal response to a spontaneous request.
• It is not scheduled, and it is not a social event.
• A pastoral blessing does not change a person’s status in regard to being able to receive the sacraments, serve as a sacramental sponsor, or hold a position that requires being a practicing Catholic in good standing.
• There is no recording of a pastoral blessing in sacramental registers or granting of certificates of any kind.
• If the persons do not seem properly disposed to this understanding of a pastoral blessing, then the minister can decide not to give a blessing. He has a right and a duty to exercise his conscience as an ordained minister of the church. He may consult with his bishop for further understanding of these criteria.

A regular part of the pastoral ministry of any priest or deacon includes guiding persons away from sinful behavior and toward virtue. This involves leading people to more mature discipleship through teaching, catechesis, admonishing, and speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15). We must not forget that the first words of Jesus in his public ministry were “repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). The Gospel has always called us sinners to conversion, and it still does.

Ordained ministers must be concerned for the state of the soul and the eternal salvation of every member of their flock. Our blessings, even simple pastoral ones, should not be an affirmation of actions which are objectively sinful. We can bless persons while they are sinners, but we cannot endorse sin. We must not affirm what is contrary to the law of God. We should all keep in mind the response of Jesus to the woman caught in adultery. He did not condemn her, but he did tell her, “Go and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11).

Fiducia Supplicans states that pastoral blessings confer actual graces. Actual graces help a person to “mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties” (FS, no. 31). Thus, whenever an ordained minister chooses to grant a simple, informal, pastoral blessing to persons in a situation of objective sin, it should be to help them open their 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” (FS, no. 40).