ROME (CNS): “In the Church there has always been change. The Church of today is not the Church of 2,000 years ago. The Church is open to the signs of the times; it is attentive to needs that arise, but it also must be faithful to the gospel, it must be faithful to tradition, faithful to its heritage,” Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said on January 12, concerning the debate surrounding the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration, Fiducia Supplicans [Supplicating Trust].
The document addresses the possibility of blessing gay couples and those in irregular relationships, but also reiterated that Catholic doctrine on marriage had not changed.
Speaking to reporters attending his speech on the Holy See and peacemaking at Rome’s Academy of the Lincei, Cardinal Parolin was asked if the turmoil was good or bad.
“It is always good,” the cardinal replied, according to Vatican News. “The important thing is that we always proceed according to what is called ‘progress in continuity’.”
…The Church is open to the signs of the times; it is attentive to needs that arise, but it also must be faithful to the gospel, it must be faithful to tradition, faithful to its heritage
Cardinal Parolin
The reaction is a normal and healthy part of the Catholic Church learning how to take Gospel values and apply them to new situations the cardinal noted adding that “if this upheaval helps us walk according to the Gospel in responding, then it is welcome.”
Cardinal Parolin also was asked about the statement of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, released on January 11 that said that while the bishops of Africa affirm their fidelity to the pope, they “generally prefer” not to offer blessings to same-sex couples.
Signed by symposium president, Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the message was issued “with the agreement” of Pope Francis and Victor Manuel Cardinal Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“This document has provoked very strong reactions from some episcopates,” Cardinal Parolin said. “It means that a very, very delicate, very sensitive point has been touched upon that will need serious follow up.”
The document, and a subsequent clarification by Cardinal Fernández, insisted that the declaration did not signal approval for same-sex unions, but that the request for a blessing can express and nurture “openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered,” the dicastery said in the declaration published on 18 December 2023.
