In his magisterial history The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon identified the loss of civic virtue as the “secret poison” that undermined this sprawling global empire and inevitably led to its demise. The Catholic Church is not about to disintegrate in the same fashion as the Roman Empire, but its unity, grounded in the infallible papal magisterium, seems to be unraveling, and its eternal doctrines are no longer safe from radical revision.
We can probably isolate several such poisons in the Church that undermine the deposit of faith, but there is one that is particularly insidious. It involves a departure from what liberal theologians regard as a “sexophobic morality,” and it accounts for profane documents such as Fiducia Supplicans. As everyone knows by now, this declaration from the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith sanctions the blessing of same-sex couples and those in other irregular relationships, so long as those blessings are not liturgical and do not convey the impression of marriage.
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Fiducia Supplicans directly flows from principles and premises articulated in the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Following the decadent path of moral theology of the 1970s, Amoris Laetitia misconstrues God’s authoritative commands as “rules” that express “ideals” to which we should all aspire. It ignores the fact that some of these commands, such as the divine prohibition against adultery, allow for no exceptions. On the contrary, these rules are subject to exceptions, excuses, and mitigating circumstances.
Given our weakness and disposition to noetic and moral frailty, it’s not possible for everyone to follow these rules, especially those that pertain to sexual morality. According to Amoris Laetitia, some Catholics are “not in a position…to fully carry out the objective demands of the law” (295). The pope proceeds to explain that those in irregular situations, such as Catholics divorced and remarried without an annulment, are not necessarily living in a state of mortal sin even if they are not ignorant of the relevant rule. “A subject may know the rule, yet…be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise” (301).
Amoris Laetitia clearly suggests that the Church’s traditional understanding of indissoluble, monogamous marriage, anchored in the words of Jesus Himself, is one of those lofty ideals. It refers to “the ideal of marriage, marked by a commitment to exclusivity and stability” (34). While this “ideal” cannot be negated, more flexibility is necessary in order to achieve psychological balance for those who cannot live up to its demands. The Church must begin to modify and limit its antiquated ideas about sexuality, even if it does so in ways that are essentially contradictory.
Thus, Amoris Laetitia presents the faithful with a revised attitude about sin (and particularly sexual sin) that softens the urgent need for conversion and repentance. Sin is conceived not so much as an offense against God but as a falling short of aspirations. Some Catholics cannot keep God’s commandments and are faced with the prospect of living at a distance from ideals like indissoluble marriage or chastity. It follows from this new theology that same-sex couples merit the Church’s blessing, since their only fault is failing to live up to moral ideals that are often too burdensome.
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In answering the dubia of five Cardinals submitted just before the Synod on Synodality, the pope wrote that while the sexual relationship of these same-sex couples may not be morally acceptable from an objective viewpoint, “pastoral charity requires that we do not simply treat as ‘sinners’ other people whose guilt or responsibility may be mitigated by various factors…” (emphasis added).
Moreover, according to Amoris Laetitia, “a pastor cannot feel that it is enough to apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations as if they were stones to throw at people” (305). Instead of throwing those stones like the Pharisees in John’s Gospel, a blessing is imparted, recognizing the positive elements in the relationship—“all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives” (Fiducia Supplicans, 31). Those positive elements suggest at least an imperfect living out of the ideal, and a blessing expresses the hope that this couple will strive to grow in full fidelity to the Gospel. However, the only way to truly achieve that fidelity is continence or a dissolution of this gravely sinful relationship. The painful reality that these couples are engaged in immoral activity, in sodomy or adultery, is ignored and obscured by a tangled web of euphemisms.
We find this same highly questionable reasoning in answers to the recent dubia submitted by Cardinal Duka concerning reception of Confession and the Eucharist for those divorced Catholics who have entered into a second, civil union. Those dubia sought to clarify the ambiguity of Amoris Laetitia on this issue. This statement claims that after a period of discernment, divorced Catholics can receive sacramental absolution and the Holy Eucharist even if they do not live chastely in the second relationship.
