ROME – The Vatican’s doctrinal chief has held talks with the Coptic leader to heal the rift caused by Rome's decision to provide non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.
The December declaration <em>Fiducia Supplicans </em>prompted the Coptic Orthodox Church in March to sever ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church.
Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), has travelled to Cairo for a meeting with Pope Tawadros II in an attempt to repair the rift.
The reason for the visit, according to the Vatican, was to discuss <em>Fiducia Supplicans</em> “and the Coptic Synod’s subsequent statement rejecting it and announcing a suspension of dialogue”.
One of the largest and one of the most influential Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Copts had announced publicly that because of the declaration it would “suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, re-evaluate the results that the dialogue has achieved since its beginning 20 years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed”.
The document has also been rejected by the Catholic bishops of Africa, Poland, the Netherlands and Hungary among many other places.
Similar complaints were made by the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, which condemned <em>Fiducia </em>in February, saying “this innovation reflected a sharp departure from Christian moral teaching”.
<em>Fiducia </em>outlined ways in which blessings could be given to couples in irregular situations, including divorced and remarried couples and individuals in same-sex unions.
The declaration insisted the sacrament of marriage was a union between one man and one woman, and it stipulated that any blessing given to those in a same-sex union be spontaneous and not done in a chapel or as part of a ceremony or done in any way that would confuse the union with the sacrament of marriage.
Many Catholics and non-Catholic Christians argued, however, that it was tantamount to endorsing gay marriage at worst, and at best risked sowing confusion among the faithful.
In their March statement, the Coptic Church in Egypt reaffirmed its opposition to “all forms of homosexual relationships, because they violate the Holy Bible and the law by which God created man male and female, and it considers that any blessing, whatever its type, for such relationships is a blessing for sin, and this is unacceptable”.
The suspension of dialogue with the Coptic Church marked a significant blow for the Vatican, which just last year took significant steps in cementing Coptic-Catholic dialogue when Tawadros II visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis in May 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first-ever meeting between the Catholic and Coptic Orthodox popes.
During his visit Tawadros attended Francis’s general audience, giving his own speech, and the Pope later made the unusual move of formally inserting 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs killed by ISIS into the Catholic Church’s formal martyrology, approving them for veneration by Catholics faithful.
According to <em>Vatican News</em>, Cardinal Fernández during his meeting with Pope Tawadros conveyed Pope Francis’s greetings and recalled the meeting between the two last May, seven months before Fiducia Supplicans was issued.
Cardinal Fernández reportedly explained that both <em>Fiducia Supplicans</em> and <em>Dignitatis Infinita</em> – a DDF document on human dignity issued in April which reiterated the Church’s definition of human dignity and touched on hotbutton issues such as abortion, surrogacy, gender theory and sex change – were clear on the sacrament of marriage as being a union between a man and a woman open to life.
He also apparently insisted on the Catholic Church’s opposition to “same-sex marriage,” and said the Church shares the teachings expressed in the Coptic Church’s statement.
On Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Fernández reportedly told Tawadros that the blessings are given to individuals, and not the union itself, explaining that if two people present themselves together, they can be blessed with the Sign of the Cross, but it must be brief, spontaneous, not in a ceremony, without liturgical vestments, and cannot in any way be done in a way that confuses it with marriage.
Cardinal Fernández apparently insisted that these simple and spontaneous blessings can be given in various contexts, and to anyone, regardless of their background.
He said these blessings are not occasions of “sanctifying grace” but of “actual grace” consisting of special spiritual assistance from the Holy Spirit that helps move the sinner toward conversion and maturation.
Tawadros reportedly explained the historical, cultural and social context of the Egyptian people to Cardinal Fernández, noting their special connection to the Nile River.
During his visit to Cairo, Cardinal Fernández also met with other Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant bishops and patriarchs to discuss matters of relevance to the DDF.
<em>(Picture courtesy of Vatican Media)</em>
