Ukrainian Major Archbishop says Pope Francis’ Fiducia Supplicans has ‘no legal status’ in eastern church
'Pastoral prudence urges us to avoid ambiguous gestures, expressions and concepts that would distort or misrepresent God’s word and the teaching of the Church,' His Beatitude Sviatoslav said in a statement on Friday.His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), issued a strong statement in response to Pope Francis’ document Fiducia Supplicans that gave approval to priests to “bless” homosexual so-called couples, saying it has “no legal status” in the UGCC and thus will not be implemented.
Fiducia Supplicans, signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Francis, was released December 18. It immediately caused a firestorm dividing — if not atomizing — the Catholic Church, as LGBT advocates celebrated it as a recognition of homosexual relationships, orthodox Catholics decried it as a betrayal of the Catholic faith, and papal apologists sought to prove that it was neither.
While it is impossible for the Church to change her teaching on doctrines related to sexuality and marriage, a number of prelates have come out to warn that the document seems to be attempting to do just that, either by legitimizing the idea that two homosexuals constitute a “couple” or that sexual acts outside of marriage are anything less than intrinsically disordered and gravely sinful.
Below is the unofficial English translation of Sviatoslav’s statement as published by OnePeterFive.
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Ukrainian patriarch says Pope Francis’ Fiducia Supplicans has ‘no legal status’ in eastern church - LifeSite