A Dutch bishop has described the Vatican’s Fiducia Supplicans declaration, which permits nonliturgical blessings of homosexual couples, as an attempt to “make peace with a secular society.”

However, Auxiliary Bishop Rob Mutsaerts of the Diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands warned: “Peace at the expense of morality and truth” is a “most merciless peace imaginable.”  

“God loves everyone. He loves all sinners, but he hates your sins. He fervently hopes that you will return to him, just as he hoped for the prodigal son’s return. He wants nothing more than for you to share in his love,” Mutsaerts wrote in a foreword to a new book that attacks the declaration.