German Cardinal Gerhard Müller says Fiducia supplicans – authored by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez under the imprimatur of Pope Francis – is “self contradictory” and claims the document “was neither discussed nor approved by the General Assembly of Cardinals and Bishops of this Dicastery.” The document ostensibly opens to the door to ‘pastoral’ blessings for same-sex couples and unions. From 2012 to 2017, Cardinal Müller headed the Church’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – the same Church body now headed by Cardinal Fernandez.
While the Catholic Church “can set certain pastoral accents and creatively relate the truth of Revelation to the new challenges of each age”, Müller asserts the doctrine is clear: “…these innovations cannot go beyond what was revealed to them once and for all by the apostles as the word of God (Dei verbum 8).”
The German cleric goes further: “In fact, there are no biblical texts or texts of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church or previous documents of the magisterium to support the conclusions of [Fiducia supplicans]” in a direct challenge to the Pope and Cardinal Fernandez.
Cardinal Müller notes the last time the Church issued a magisterial ruling on the matter of blessings for same-sex unions and couples – in 2021 – “…it categorically rejected the possibility of blessing these unions. This applies both to public blessings and to private blessings for people living in sinful conditions.” He goes on to argue Fiducia supplicans attempts to recognize the validity of the previous magisterial ruling – “and binding teaching” – as they apply to sacramental or liturgical blessings, but undermines this validity by broadening the definition of ‘blessing’ so much as to render it almost meaningless.
The Church already allows for sinners to receive a simple blessing when their state of sin precludes them from the sacraments.
In essence, Cardinal Müller, believes Fiducia supplicans creates a new category of blessing, which he notes “are a novelty”, with “…no basis for this new usage in the biblical texts cited… .” The influential German cardinal ultimately concludes, in what can only be read as a direct challenge to the document: “There is no blessing, not only in public but also in private, for sinful living conditions that objectively contradict God’s holy will.”
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