LUXEMBOURG (LifeSiteNews) — Papal confidant Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, has voiced his support for the heterodox blessing of same-sex “couples” proposed by the Vatican’s December Declaration Fiducia Supplicans.
In an interview with L’essentiel, Hollerich was asked about the mounting criticisms Pope Franics is facing for his approval of such blessings from bishops and bishops’ conferences – an approval he has doubled down on in recent weeks. The cardinal, who himself has publicly called to change Catholic teaching on homosexuality, replied that he completely agrees with Pope Francis on the matter of blessings.
“I am absolutely on the same line as the Pope,” Hollerich said. Following a recently voiced casuistic line of reasoning, he continued, “Would we deny the blessing to a homosexual couple because they are ‘sinners’ and we would bless an entrepreneur who is going to invest against humanity? This is hypocritical.”
READ: Pope Francis doubles down on homosexual blessings: ‘Not the union, but the people’ are blessed
“The Pope considers himself a ‘sinner’ and so do I,” Hollerich touted, failing to distinguish between mortal and venial sin and implying that “sinners” in any situation can be blessed, regardless of circumstances.
He added, “The Pope does not like to condemn the sins of others without looking at his own.”
Then, appearing to downplay Catholic sexual morality, which teaches that all sexual acts outside of a marriage are gravely sinful, Hollerich retorted, “Why only care about below-the-belt morality?”
READ: Cardinal Müller: Fiducia Supplicans ‘leads to heresy,’ Catholics cannot accept it
Asked further whether the Church needs to evolve in her moral teachings, the Luxembourg cardinal praised the moral changes of the day and questioned the necessity of things like priestly celibacy, saying some priests found it “hard.”
“Our epochal change is phenomenal, and the Church needs to be understood by the people,” he said. “Many bishops ask themselves the question of the marriage of priests, for example.”
Asked his own thoughts on the matter, he replied, “Yes, I’m wondering. Some priests have a hard time being celibate.”
Claiming that a lifting of the obligation of priestly celibacy would help alleviate the growing crisis in vocations in Europe, he continued, “Giving them a choice would allow them to have a few more people ready for the priesthood. In Europe, this ‘few’ can make a difference.”
Hollerich himself is known for his public support of the homosexual movement. In 2022 he described as “false” the Church’s denouncement of homosexual acts as sinful. He added that there are “homosexuals among my priests” in his Archdiocese of Luxembourg. “I have homosexual women and men among the laity,” he added, “and they know they have a home in the Church.”
Hollerich called for a “change” in Church teaching on homosexuality, which comes on top of his openness to ordaining women to the sacred priesthood and opening Holy Orders to married men.
In August 2022, Hollerich then claimed that his thoughts on homosexuality were “in full agreement with Pope Francis.” But only weeks later, he told LifeSiteNews that “I’m not in favor of changing any doctrine.” Instead, he said he was in favor of “a Church in which everybody can feel welcome.”
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons,” states that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.”
This is echoed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that: “‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” (CCC 2357)
Last week Cardinal Gerhard Müller declared that Church leaders and the Catholic faithful must reject “blessings” for homosexual “couples” because they contradict Catholic teaching and “lead to heresy.”
“Fiducia Supplicans must be considered doctrinally problematic, for it contains a denial of Catholic doctrine,” he wrote in a February 16 essay for First Things, criticizing the “grave defects” of the document. “For this reason, it is also problematic from a pastoral point of view.”
Fiducia Supplicans’ affirmation of “blessings” for homosexual relationships “violates, at least, the second paragraph of the Profession of Faith” because “to bless these persons as same-sex couples is to approve their unions, even if they are not equated with marriage,” the former Vatican doctrine chief said.
Such a proposal, he warned, is “contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church” and “logically leads to heresy.”
“This means that these pastoral blessings for irregular unions cannot be accepted by the Catholic faithful, and especially by those who, in assuming an ecclesiastical office, have taken the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity, which calls first of all for the preservation of the deposit of faith in its entirety,” he stressed.
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