In the past few years, a significant development has taken place with regard to Catholic pastoral practice. This is the formal departure from the myth of pastoral uniformity that was fostered in the period after the Council of Trent (1545–63), and especially after the appearance of the Code of Canon Law of 1917.

The 1917 Code liked to present an image that everything was done uniformly between Dublin and Brisbane, and between Vancouver and Cape Town. The reality was, of course, very different: the practice of every religion adapts to the society around it.

But the brand image, “Catholicism = Uniformity”, was carefully promoted, and many Catholics took pride in it. Catholicism was the great global brand.

Different places, different approaches

Today, we are witnessing variety officially making a comeback.

Cardinal Josef De Kesel, speaking for the Dutch-speaking bishops in Belgium, announced a blessing for use with gay couples in their dioceses. It is a very simple liturgy whose main aim is to assure every person of God’s love, and no one should feel bypassed by the Church in their striving to be disciples.

Then the media heavens opened, and a torrent of abuse was sent towards those bishops: they were condoning sin.

Then, on 18 December 2023, came Fiducia Supplicans, which was the Vatican’s statement on blessing gay couples, but not with a liturgy. The heavens again opened. More abuse of Pope Francis; apparently, he, too, was condoning sin.

Noting contexts

Then came a raft of statements from Africa: this new Vatican directive would not apply there.

Strangely, those who condemned Fiducia Supplicans as a break in uniformity did not note that they too were breaking with Vatican uniformity.

More importantly, few noticed that there is a wide range of reactions in human societies to homosexuality, and that these attitudes are always changing.

Now, officially, there are acknowledged differences in pastoral practice in Catholicism.

From a liturgical formula in one place, to an outright rejection in another, to a rather flexible and complex line (you can have a blessing [which means a liturgy], but it is not to be a liturgical blessing) from Rome.

The variations reflect variations in human cultures. Learning to cope with this will be a valuable process in itself.

Listening to contexts

The strength of early Christianity was that it was both ecumenical (i.e., whole world) and local (different languages, liturgies, ways of discipleship).

This was a way of negotiating the complexities of human societies that we forgot in a period of western-European hegemony.

Learning to listen to the particular, what the Spirit is saying to the churches, is going to be difficult. But it will be enriching.

It will be a new kind of catholicism.

• Thomas O’Loughlin is a presbyter of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and professor-emeritus of historical theology at the University of Nottingham (UK). His latest book is Discipleship and Society in the Early Churches.
• His latest book is “Shaping the Assembly: How Our Buildings form us in Worship”.