Pope Francis has said that in most cases when people don’t accept a decision, it is because they don’t understand it.
In an interview on Sunday night with the Italian TV show Che tempo che fa, the Pope emphasised the subtle nature of a blessing, explaining that to bless somebody does not mean that you approve of their actions. Instead, it is an invitation to the blessed person to enter a relationship with the Church.
“The Lord blesses everyone who is capable of being baptised, that is, every person,” he said. However, it is unlikely a shunned person would be drawn to enter the Church, so to build a relationship, “we are to take them by the hand and help them go down that road, not condemn them from the beginning.”
Addressing the meaning of a blessing, Fiducia Supplicans, released on December 18 2023, invites the Church to “broaden and enrich the meaning of blessings” to match this definition, noting that they must also be seen through a pastoral perspective as well as a sacramental one.
Nonetheless, many more conservative members of the Church are still unhappy with the Pope’s decision, stating that it implicitly condones same-sex relationships. Bishops in Africa have collectively refused to offer the blessings, announcing that it would be a contradiction to the “cultural ethos of African communities”. Likewise many Bishops worldwide, including some in Europe, share a similar viewpoint.
As such, Pope Francis told Che tempo che fa that he can sometimes feel lonely in the Church. Though, he said, this isolation will not change his perspective. “When you make a decision, there is a price in solitude you must pay,” he told the TV show.
Pope Francis continued that he hoped people would be willing to enter into “brotherly discussion” instead of hardening their hearts when it comes to blessing “irregular couples”, explaining that when they do not it leads to them making “ugly conclusions”.
Despite the controversy, many churches around the world do welcome the blessing announcement. Notably German Bishops had already voted in favour of approving blessings for same-sex couples in March 2023. Likewise, Bishops in Belgium had already come to a similar conclusion to offer a blessing, formerly in an unofficial way.
Following the confusion caused by Fiducia Supplicans, the Pope met 800 priests and deacons at Rome’s Basilica of St John Lateran on January 13 2024. Here, priests report Pope Francis reiterating, “We are blessing people, not (their) sin.”
The Church teachings around marriage still remain the same as expressed in Fiducia Supplicans, which states that the sacrament of marriage “is tied directly to the specific union of a man and a woman”.
Also on Che tempo che fa, Pope Francis was also asked what he thinks hell is like, to which he responded that he “like(s) to think of hell as empty.” Though, he noted that this was only his personal view, as opposed to the dogma of the faith which affirms the concept of hell in the Catechism. He added that the Lord “is not scandalised by our sins, because He is a father, and He accompanies us.”
The interview itself marked the second time that Pope Francis has appeared on Che tempo che fa, previously speaking in February 2022. The show earlier this week drew in three million Italian viewers and more than 300,000 interactions on social media, making it the most commented on show of the evening.
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