Hypocrisy and same-sex blessings
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.”
“This is hypocrisy,” he said.
Is blessing a businessman, who perhaps exploits people, analogous to “LGBT blessings”? It’s illuminating to consider the differences.
First, to bless the businessman is to bless an individual. By contrast, “LGBT blessings” does not refer to the blessing of individuals. Rather, Fiducia Supplicans is about “blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.”
Second, to bless this businessman is to bless someone who perhaps exploits people. If he does, he may or may not be aware of it, and if he is aware of it, he may or may not intend to continue the exploitation despite the blessing. One hopes that if he is aware of exploiting people, the blessing becomes the occasion of his following the example of Zacchaeus, who responded beautifully to the blessing of having Jesus in his home: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Lk 19:8).
In any case, if there is no reason to think that the businessman seeks the blessing as approval of his exploitative practices, neither he nor onlookers are likely to regard the blessing as approval.
Read the rest: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/02/08/hypocrisy-and-same-sex-blessings/
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