The bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rennes have asked that no homosexual or irregular "couples" be blessed, but only individuals. The statement is an interesting step in the episcopal criticism and clarification of Fiducia supplicans. [No one would have expected an entire province of French bishops to stand up to the Vatican this way! - PK]
The statement reads:
In our society, where marriage has been trivialized by becoming a notion of civil law that ignores the foundational specificity of sexual difference, we have the mission to prophetically affirm, "with gentleness and respect" (1 Pet 3:16), the great beauty of God's design that created the human being, male and female, and that Christ recalled. In this context, it is right, as the Declaration emphasizes, not to contribute to creating "confusion" (n. 4, 5, 30, 31, 39) or "scandal" (n. 30, 39). For this reason, it is appropriate to spontaneously bless, individually, each of the two persons forming a couple, whatever their sexual orientation, who humbly ask God's blessing, with the desire to conform more and more to his holy will.
+ Pierre d'Ornellas, Archbishop of Rennes
+ Raymond Centène, bishop of Vannes
+ Emmanuel Delmas, bishop of Angers
+ Laurent Dognin, Bishop of Quimper
+ François Jacolin, Bishop of Luçon
+ Denis Moutel, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc
+ Laurent Percerou, Bishop of Nantes
+ Jean-Pierre Vuillemin, Bishop of Le Mans
+ Jean Bondu, Auxiliary Bishop of Rennes
Frédéric Foucher, diocesan administrator of Laval
[source]
