Dilemmas and demands for the Doctrine of the Faith
How much should we expect from the Catholic Church? What reforms should we be thankful for and what progress should we be impatient for? These are all questions that have stirred through my mind as I’ve spent the last weeks walking and reading my way through the structures of the Papacy.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is a 500 year old foundation that is cemented within the Vatican. Initiated in 1542 by Pope John III, this organisation has since shared and officiated church doctrine. If cardinals or priests have a question the Dicastery is the one who writes back. Letters to the consecrated editor if you will.
It’s not often that the Dicastery has been part of news headlines, but on the 3rd of November they published the succinctly titled “ Answers to Several Questions from His Excellency, the Most Reverend José Negri, Bishop of Santo Amaro, Brazil, Regarding Participation in the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony by Transgender Persons and Homosexual Persons”.
The voice of the Vatican clarified that people who were transgender could be baptized and them along with them homosexuals could potentially act as godparents.
From this came a media storm, great changes were reported to be happening within the church, dare I even say could the Catholic church begin to be considered progressive? While this step is an important one and does reflect some sort of doctrinal alteration within the institution, we must not get too excited for as always, the devil is in the detail.
Two main points are worth considering, one- the Catholic Church still treats members of the LBGTQ+ community as people who participate in an immoral lifestyle, and two- the church leaves prudence within the hands of the clergy, a group of men who has been told repeatedly that queers who act on their urges represent “an intrinsic moral evil”.
On to the first point of living as a sinful being. In the 2023 response to the Brazilian Bishop the Dicastry makes repeated mention of the Baptismal reflections of St. Thomas Aquinas taught and St. Augustine of Hippo. These two Saints who both wrote repeatedly on how Baptism itself can lead the sinner to a life of righteousness.
“even if a man falls into sin, Christ does not destroy the character
received by him in Baptism and seeks (quaerit) the sinner, in whom this character is
imprinted that identifies him as his property”
Answers to Several Questions from His Excellency, the Most Reverend José Negri, Bishop of Santo Amaro, Brazil, Regarding Participation in the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony by Transgender Persons and Homosexual Persons- 2023
So, what the Church is saying through its own mouthpiece is yes, we don’t support your actions, you are still an abomination but why not join us? Join us and maybe the Catholic guilt will free your soul to an everlasting liberation. Don’t find salvation in yourself, they say, because within the pride of one-self is only sin, find salvation instead in the sacrosanct of Jesus.™, join us for Sundays and pay your tithe. Look how progressive the Church is, they would even consider letting some queers in through the front door!
I say consider, because “considering” leads us to point two; the latitude given to ministers to exercise their sacred rites. Let us dive back into the letter and pour through the details of how these ceremonies are considered.
“However, since such a task does not constitute a right, pastoral prudence demands that it should not be allowed if there is a danger of scandal, undue legitimization or disorientation in the educational sphere of the church community… due pastoral prudence demands that every situation be wisely weighed, in order to safeguard the sacrament of baptism”
Answers to Several Questions from His Excellency, the Most Reverend José Negri, Bishop of Santo Amaro, Brazil, Regarding Participation in the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony by Transgender Persons and Homosexual Persons -2023
Jurisdiction of who is let into the church is left to the hands of the local priesthood. They are the frontline soldiers of the churches, soldiers who have been and still are told that a queer lifestyle is a sinful lifestyle. In 2021 the Dicastery released a declaration stating that blessings could not be applied to same-sex relations as...
“there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”
-Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex- 2021
The Catholic Church's power stems from a moral authority built on a long standing catalogue of theological texts and declarations. It’s not just the bible, but also the words of Saints and previous proclamations the Church has made to build up this catalogue. The Authority of the papacy drips from their ability to cling to the past.The Church considers themselves harbingers of the eternal word of God and when you consider your words as eternal it only makes sense that your reforms end up moving at a snail's pace. It afterall took the Church 359 years to apologise for threatening to burn Galileo alive for surmounting proposing the foundational fact that indeed the Earth really does revolve around the sun.
The Church is by all accounts a conservative, not a reformative organisation and this reflects on their relationship with the queer community. They have said that no one should have the door of the Lord closed to them, and yet the church hands the key not the people but to their foot soldiers to carry out the orders. For decades these priests and members of the ministry have diligently listened to the Church’s words and teachings. They listened when they called homosexuals sinful and they listened when Pope Francis likened gender theory to nuclear weapons, and it’s to these people that the Dicastery entrusted them to allow a more “open” space within the Church.
Yes Pope Francis is the most palatable Pope us queers have seen in a very long time. Yes, his Jesuit robes and teachings may be the teaspoon of sugar to the bitter elixir that is the Vatican but boy is it a big, powerful Church, and it's going to take a lot more than 4 grams of sweetener to hide its taste of something so pungent.
“It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin,”
Pope Francis on homosexuality, January 2023
It’s important for me to reflect on the role of The Dicastery, for in that I find my own role for myself as an artist. The Church is spending effort, money and time to release edicts to change the world in the direction they see fit. They preserve their power and their own authority by recalling the past.
It’s not good enough for the Pope to sit down and break bread with people in the Trans community or let selected gay couples into their converted rituals. I will not be lectured that I'm a sinful creature, I simply expect more from a moral authority that speaks to 1.3 billion individuals. I’m not looking for change from within because it will never reach the pace I desire. The power structures of the Church rely on the slow moving of social tides not the wash and crash of a reformative storm. Well us queers are that storm, we are that destabilising factor that will come in like Noah's flood and wash these pontificated men out on their behinds.
This is my Dicastery, these are my edicts to inflict my agency onto the world, an agency that is truly filled with an undying love for my fellow human beings and sacrosanct of the self that any Abrahamic God wishes they could come near. My edicts are ones that indulge in the pleasures in humanity, from sucking cock to denying the shame of Catholic guilt. My soul nor my pride will never be held to ransom by the white robes of the ordained, I simply respect my soul too much.
Keep rocking that boat, never accept that enough is enough till the Pontificate is on their knees begging us for forgiveness. x
Pope Pius VIII kneeling, St Peter's Bassillica, Monument by Pietro Tenerani, 1866
CBS San Francisco 2015 ,Pope Francis Compares Transgender People To Nuclear Weapons In New Book, CBS online news article, Feb 20th, accessed on 19th november 2023,< https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/pope-francis-compares-transgender-people-to-nuclear-weapons-in-new-book/ >
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Luis F, 2021 ,Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex, Dicastery for the doctrine of the faith , accessed on 19th November 2023
,<https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20210222_responsum-dubium-unioni_en.html >
Winfield N, 2023, Pope suggests blessings for same-sex unions possible in response to 5 conservative cardinals, Associated Press online article, October 2nd, Accessed on 25th november 2023,<https://apnews.com/article/vatican-conservatives-synod-lgbtq-5c6e33d4d45aea1b0b5553d3acc799e1>
Winfield N, Thomas T 2023, For this group of trans women, the pope and his message of inclusivity are a welcome change, Associated Press online article, 19th November 2023, Viewed 26th November 2023,<https://apnews.com/article/vatican-transgender-lgbtq-b3d67868504ba701cce09da9ecc94de0>
Vactican, DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Vatican official website, Viewed at 23rd November 2023, <https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html>
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