Daniel Duigou, the priest of the Church Saint-Mary in Paris, France, is a French priest with progressive views on the topic of human sexuality. After meeting privately with the Pope, the priest claims that Francis gave him a thumbs-up approval to his blessing of same-sex couples. For clarity’s sake, Duigou is not claiming that Pope Francis gave him permission to wed same-sex couples, but to bless their unions.
In a 45 minute interview with Konbini News, Diuigou claimed he met alone with the Pontiff. The cover of his book, which he is now promoting, has a picture of the two meeting together. He wrote an Open Letter to Pope Francis (entitled, Lettre Ouverte d’un Curé au Pape François), in which he asks Francis to “reinvent” the church, with modern views on sexuality in mind. He is also lobbying Francis to make the role of parish priests less central to Roman Catholic religion, opening it up to more lay people in a populist overture to democratize the religion.
According to LifeSite News:
The first question he [the pope] asked me was: ‘Do you bless divorced and remarried couples?’ which is one of the big questions today in the Church,” explained Duigou. He recalled responding, “I listen and I bless, and I also bless homosexual couples.”
According to Duigou the Pope responded: “Yes, because to bless means that God thinks well of people and that God thinks well of all people.”
The news show host asked incredulously: “Well, does this mean that the Pope is in favor of blessing homosexual couples?”
The French priest responded: “Yes, absolutely. It is not about marrying them.”
Humorously, when asked whether this is the official position of the Church, Father Duigou responded that it is the position of the Pope. How could it not be the official position of the Roman Catholic Church if it’s the position of the Pope of Rome?
Some conservative Catholics are calling for Duigou’s removal from the priesthood, given his advocacy for same-sex relationships and female clergy. The real problem for them, however, is that consistency requires they deal with Pope Francis who is acting equally as errantly. The problem for an infallible church is that it cannot repent.
