EXCLUSIVE: Chaldean Patriarch on Church's rejection of same-sex blessings
EXCLUSIVE: Chaldean Patriarch on Church's rejection of same-sex blessings
‘The Chaldean Church...refuses to bless the gay union, in order to preserve the sanctity of marriage, which is one of the seven sacraments.’
BAGHDAD, Iraq (PerMariam) — The Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church has confirmed to Per Mariam the Chaldean Church’s recent rejection of blessing same-sex unions, noting that to offer such blessings would be incompatible with Catholic teaching.
In a July 22 statement following the recent deliberations of the current Chaldean synod, the Chaldean Church’s rejection of same-sex unions was issued clearly and definitively:
“The Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world does not consider homosexuality a marriage, because it considers marriage between a male and a female is the correct legal marriage for building a family, and it refuses to bless the gay union, in order to preserve the sanctity of marriage, which is one of the seven sacraments.”
In response to subsequent questions by this correspondent after the synod’s statement, Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako then affirmed the Chaldean Church’s stance with regards blessing homosexual unions:
“For us Catholics and Chaldean the blessing of a marriage is not only a blessing, it is a sacrament so we can not do that for LGBT.
We will not bless that union, this union is not a sacrament, but if an individual comes and asks a prayer we will do it as we do for others.”
Days before, Cdl. Sako urged the entire Chaldean community to “return to the source of your authentic Chaldean spirituality.”
“Let us be a star that leads the people we live with to Christ,” Cdl. Sako closed.
The Chaldean Church is one of the 23 Eastern Churches which, though autonomous in certain aspects from the Latin Church – such as having their own Canon Law – the Eastern Churches are nevertheless united in communion with the Latin Church.
Another strike against Fiducia
The Chaldean’s statement appears as yet another blow to the already embattled Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which has already seen unprecedented opposition from cardinals, bishops and episcopal conferences around the world.
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As now well known, Fiducia Supplicans argues clergy can offer blessings of same-sex couples. “Within the horizon outlined here appears the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex, the form of which should not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage,” reads paragraph 31 of the document.
Authored by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández and approved by Pope Francis Fiducia Supplicans has been the cause of a de facto split in the global Church, due to the widespread opposition which it has seen. Indeed, prominent lay theologians – Mr. Julio Loredo and Mr. Antonio Ureta – recently attested that Cdl. Fernández’s Vatican appointment and the publication of Fiducia Supplicans text are the “crowning achievement” of the pro-homosexual movement and the “powerful LGBT lobby” within the Catholic Church.
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Fiducia Supplicans uses the word “couples” rather than “unions” when referring to pairings of the same-sex.
Pope Francis has himself availed of such linguistic argumentations and double-speak when defending the text. Both Cdl. Fernández and Francis have argued that same-sex unions are not approved by Fiducia Supplicans, but have defended offering blessings to same-sex couples who may or may not be in a legal union, and who present themselves together for a blessing.
The practical application has been for priests to offer blessings to same-sex pairs whether they are legally in a union or simply cohabiting and living a homosexual lifestyle: thus no distinction is effectively made.
As for the Chaldeans, it seems that – perhaps encouraged by Cdl. Sako’s rejoinder to be mindful of their “authentic Chaldean spirituality” – neither Fiducia Supplicans nor its accompanying ideology will find inroads into the community led by the 76-year-old Patriarch.
They are supported in this not just by the timeless moral teaching of the Catholic Church, but also by the 2021 responsa ad dubia from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which firmly rejected blessing homosexual unions. The Church does not have “power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex,” read the 2021 note from the CDF prefect.
Chaldean Patriarch’s community
Cdl. Sako has led the several hundred thousand members of the Chaldean Church February 2013, and was created cardinal in June 2018. Largely situated in Iraq, the Chaldean community has seen a significant decrease in size in the past decades, following the ongoing military conflict in the region.
A 2019 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which cited the Iraqi Christian Foundation, found that some 80% of Iraqi Christians were Chaldeans.
Following the Iraqi president’s July 2023 decision to revoke their recognition of Cdl. Sako as Patriarch, the cardinal left swiftly in order to base himself in Kurdistan, denouncing the government’s move as “unprecedented” and as part of the wider failure to protect the nation’s Christian community.
“It is unfortunate that we in Iraq live in the midst of a wide network of self-interest, narrow factionalism, and hypocrisy that has produced an unprecedented political, national and moral chaos, which is rooted by now more and more, so many God help the helpless Christians and Iraqis,” Cdl. Sako wrote last July.
He returned to the country in April of this year, after being personally invited back by the Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Journalist Luke Coppen has been following the saga closely over recent months, providing coverage with commentary from the Patriarch himself.
Speaking via email to Coppen last August, Cdl. Sako described the 2023 revocation of his patriarchal recognition as being the first time in 14 centuries that the Church lacked official recognition. He added that the move against him was part of a wider ploy led by politician Rayan Al-Kildani, which aimed at “seizing the homes of Christians, and conspiring to take control of Church properties.”
“These politicians want to silence me and stop me from speaking up for human rights and dignity and to claim a state of citizenship, equality, and justice,” Cdl. Sako wrote.