The Pope’s pursuit of relevance is embarrassingly outdated
by Tim Stanley, Spectator:
The Pope is old and unwell. In whatever time he has left, he surveys his years as pontiff and counts only failure. What does he leave behind? Collapsing attendance, theological confusion, a few sentimental encyclicals and a positive meeting with Whoopi Goldberg. Francis called a synod and it gave him nothing. So, in a last throw of the dice, he declares that priests can bless gay relationships – sorta, kinda, maybe not.
It’s all a muddle. The priest is not blessing the relationship but the partners; it must have no ritual; weddings are ruled out, for the teaching on marriage is unchanged. To effect this fudge, Francis has broken with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council by going over the heads of the bishops to empower the priests to offer the blessing. Yet he has also given these clerics no text to recite, so how are they supposed to know what to say?
Some (the Germans) will just conduct mock weddings. Others will be asked by parishioners to bless their arrangement, the priest will refuse, complaints will be raised – and the Church will be forced to clarify further, nudging Rome in an irresistible direction. Open a crack in the door marked ‘reform’ and it never stays a crack. It widens and widens till a storm rages through, wrecking the temple within.
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