Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández has now made public a letter addressed in 2024 to the German Church in which he warned about deviations in the application of blessings to couples in irregular situations, in a context marked by the reiteration of similar proposals by some bishops of the country. This was reported by Confidencial Digital.
The Vatican now publishes a letter on blessings in Germany
The prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter on November 18, 2024, to the Bishop of Trier, Stephen Ackermann, in response to a Vademécum prepared in Germany on “blessings for couples who love each other” as an application of the declaration Fiducia supplicans to the pastoral reality of the country.
A document that also serves to respond to the recidivism following the recent statements by Cardinal Marx.
Warnings about the interpretation of Fiducia supplicans
In his response, Fernández recalls that the Church “does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when this, in any way, may offer a form of moral legitimation to a union that claims to be a marriage or to an extramarital sexual practice.”
The prefect further insists that these blessings “do not intend to legitimize anything or sanction anything,” but rather “to open one’s own life to God” and ask for his help “to live better and with greater fidelity to the Gospel.”
Criticism of the German proposal
The Dicastery points out that the German Vademécum introduces elements incompatible with that approach, such as the reference to an “official regulation”—by pastors—of couples outside of marriage or the inclusion of an “acclamation,” a gesture proper to the marriage rite.
According to Fernández, this approach “ends up legitimizing the status of such couples in a sense contrary to what is affirmed by Fiducia supplicans.”
Rejection of any form of ritualization
Another central point of the letter is the warning against the creation of liturgical or semi-liturgical forms. The document emphasizes that “no type of liturgical rite or forms of blessing similar to sacramentals that may create confusion” is admitted.
It also warns that “no ritual for blessings of couples in irregular situations should be promoted or foreseen,” to avoid these practices resembling a sacrament.
Contradictions in the Vademécum
The prefect highlights an inconsistency in the German document, which on the one hand speaks of “spontaneity and freedom” in these blessings, but on the other introduces a pre-established form for their celebration.
In particular, he criticizes the detailing of aspects such as the place, music, or form of the celebration, which in practice configures “a kind of liturgy or paraliturgy” around these blessings.
The German insistence
With the dissemination of the document, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith underscores the limits set by the Vatican and warns against interpretations that may blur the doctrine on marriage and blessings in a document that is already known for its ambiguities. A lack of clarity that precisely generates this type of problems.
In any case, Leon XIV had already responded directly to Marx during the return flight from Equatorial Guinea to Rome. This is a fact that highlights the insistence and recidivism of the German bishops in turning a deaf ear to Rome to continue with the ideas of their own synod.