Cardinal Zen: Pope Francis unsettles the faithful

Cardinal Joseph Zen, who lives in Hong Kong, has accused Pope Francis of unsettling believers with unclear answers on questions of sexual morality. The 91-year-old published a statement to this effect on his website on Thursday, which was picked up by Italian portals on Friday. The content of the statement is particularly concerned with the question of whether blessings of homosexual couples call into question the church doctrine of the sinfulness of homosexual acts as well as sexual acts outside of marriage.

The Pope had answered Zen and four other cardinals a few months ago to a written question on the subject , writing: "Pastoral prudence must correctly assess whether there are forms of blessing requested by one or more persons (...). For when one asks for a blessing, one expresses a request for help from God, a request to be able to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better." And further: "Choices that may be part of pastoral prudence in certain circumstances need not necessarily become the norm."

These sentences had been widely understood as if the Pope was not completely against any kind of such blessing. Francis had merely insisted that it should not be confused with an ecclesiastical marriage. Zen now commented on this: "This is untenable from a pastoral point of view. How can the church leave people without clear rules in such an important matter and rely on the discernment of individuals? In this way, will not the chaos of individual cases, which is very dangerous for souls, spread?" (KNA)