Headline : "Pope officially allows priests to bless same-sex couples"

Means they have finally elevated same-sex couples to be on par with a sneeze.

D&D is absolutely going to win comment of the month for December, and thus is in the running for comment of the year, and will definitely get my vote.

IsaythisinthenameofJesusHChistamen.

It actually means anything you can imagine. It’s a magical fairy dust placebo for people who still think there is a God and he uses middle men.

In the Catholic church, it operates pretty much the same way that it does for the Mormons. It's asking God to smile favorably on certain people or situations. The pope gives lots of blessings whenever he does a public appearance (whenever you see him extending his arm, and making the sign of the cross to the assembled crowd, he is giving a blessing.) He also does a blanket blessing for objects such as rosaries and Bibles. Every day that the pope is in residence at the Vatican, he blesses a pile of objects that Catholic pilgrims have left for him. They pick up those objects again each afternoon.

In this case, the pope is asking priests to not conduct the blessing like a wedding ceremony, but to instead use their judgment. It's hard to know all of the implications, being new, but it could possibly end up being rather like a ring ceremony outside of the temple for Mormons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2023 11:58AM by summer.

I was chuckling at that too. I'm surprised anyone gives a gopher's fart about a "blessing."

"I, your Catholic dude in a gown hereby "bless" you with the power of the Vatican Treehouse Club to be allowed to be gay!"

It sounds almost as important as when my granddaughter waves a Disneyland wand and gives you permission to enter her magic invisible castle.

Gesundheit!

In French, the verb "blesser" means "to hurt."

On my mission, it was always funny in a facepalm way when a greenie would give a prayer in French, asking for god to "blesser" an investigator. Comp would immediately pivot to damage control.

One of my Frech professors used to call those "faux amis" -- false friends.

It means you have the approval of Mormon authorities. You have done something good in their eyes, like going on a mission, or paying your full tithe.

For Catholicism, I'd say this is the ecclesiastical equivalent of secular/legal "domestic partnerships." The political um..."bestowing" authorities couldn't make it, or call it, "marriage," not at first, but they were sort of the next best thing--clearly a major step towards calling it, defining it, and recognizing it as "marriage."

No, it's not "marriage." Not yet. Just as political authorities were careful not to call domestic partnerships "marriage," Pope Marxcis was careful to qualify this: "As such, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not convey a wrong idea of a matrimony. Because when one seeks a blessing, one is requesting help from God.”

Those finding fault with this are complaining that their glass is half empty. No: your glass is 3/4 full. Pope Marxcis was schooled in "liberation 'theology.'" It appears his doctrinal pedigree includes sexual liberation theology. Everybody knows the skids (and other...um...things) are liberally (pun intended) greased.

You might want to step back from whatever overly right wing places you visit. Somehow you missed the idea that "sexual liberation theology" would include equality of women, and encouragement of women's reproductive choices.

I think are comparing crazy Catholic with extreme crazy Catholic, which is not the same as liberal anything.