re: I Hope All Faithful Catholics Will Join Me In Prayer That When Pope Francis is Called Home

quote:

---

I don't quite understand the hysteria among catholics. A blessing is a favor or protection bestowed from God. Why would being gay preclude one from a favor or protection from God? Maybe the favor would be hetero thoughts. Maybe the favor would be protection from STDs. In a world full of sinners, I struggle to understand which sins preclude one from blessings and which ones don't.

---

Hysteria? More like disgust with this Pope. It’s about blessing same sex unions. It’s about two dudes or gals coming up and asking priest to bless their unnatural, immoral, sexual relationship. Normalizing sin to justify one's actions is a slippery slope.

Not about any individual asking for a blessing.

quote:

---

In a world full of sinners, I struggle to understand which sins preclude one from blessings and which ones don't.

---

Every time a priest offers a blessing, it is a blessing bestowed upon a sinner since we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. The difference here is this new Vatican directive offers blessings on “irregular” relationships and thus shifts the focus from the sinful individual to the sin itself.

Although many are arguing this new doctrine does not contradict or alter centuries of Catholic doctrine, this new Vatican proclamation sows confusion and unnecessarily creates scandal since priests already have the discretion to issue pastoral blessings on sinful individuals. Yet unnecessarily creating scandal and sowing division unfortunately has proven to be the modus operandi of this Jesuit Pope.