Pope Leo names bishop who backed same-sex blessings as archbishop

(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Marek Forgáč, 52, as Metropolitan Archbishop of Košice, Slovakia, last Thursday while accepting the resignation of Archbishop Bernard Bober and elevating the longtime auxiliary bishop to lead an archdiocese with nearly 500 priests and approximately 700,000 Catholics.

Born in Košice in 1974, Forgáč was ordained in 1999, earned a licentiate in psychology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate in social psychology, and served in youth ministry and as a seminary formator before Pope Francis named him auxiliary in 2016.

The appointment has drawn criticism from some Catholics for Forgáč’s documented pastoral approach to same-sex attraction and support for the controversial 2023 declaration Fiducia Supplicans.

In a July 2024 interview with the Focolare-linked outlet Nové Mesto titled “Blessing couples in irregular unions? In Slovakia we are poorly prepared for that,” Forgáč confirmed he thought that indeed in “Slovakia we are poorly prepared for” this novelty.

He framed the document — which permits non-liturgical blessings of couples in “irregular situations,” including homosexual pairs — as reflecting Pope Francis’ vision of a Church “that has open doors for all” while insisting this does not deny “the values of the Gospel or of moral life.”

Fiducia Supplicans itself was widely criticized by bishops, cardinals, and theologians for creating confusion by allowing non-liturgical blessings of “couples” in such “irregular situations.”

Framing resistance to this innovation in Slovakia as a lack of “preparation,” or insufficient openness, suggests that fidelity to the perennial teaching of the Church is a problem to be overcome rather than a virtue.

Pressed in the same interview on whether the Church should prioritize universal teaching or individual cases, Forgáč answered, “This is what Pope Francis emphasizes. That we should not look through the optics of generalization. Yes, there are general norms, but we need to see the concrete person standing before us. His story sometimes may not fit into a concrete paragraph.

“The synod is about meeting the person, not the book,” he continued. “Let us perceive, let us listen to every person, what he comes with, what troubles him.”

In referencing “general norms,” one may presume the bishop means exceptionless moral principles that include intrinsic evil acts a Christian is forbidden to choose under any circumstances. These include the mortal sins of adultery and homosexual sodomy.

From antiquity, Catholic moral theology has distinguished between these objectively grave acts which do not change due to personal circumstances and the subjective culpability of the individual who, yes, must be assisted with compassion to live the law of God that St. John teaches is not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

As Pope St. John Paul II confirmed in his seminal work on moral theology, Veritatis Splendor, “Keeping God’s law in particular situations can be difficult, extremely difficult, but it is never impossible,” for it is “made possible by grace, which enables us to possess the full freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21) and thus to live our moral life in a way worthy of our sublime vocation as ‘sons in the Son.’”

Forgáč’s emphasizing that a person’s story “may not fit into a concrete paragraph” also indicates a tendency toward applying a situational ethic or pastoral exceptions that effectively set aside universal moral principles of the natural law and divine positive law. Of course, the unrepentant violation of such grave exceptionless moral norms can also cause the loss of immortal souls to the “eternal fire” of hell.

Pope Leo XIV has received criticism for other episcopal selections, including Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera’s appointment to auxiliary bishop in Cusco, Peru, in August just weeks after he attended a Pachamama ritual.

Last February, the pope elevated Archbishop Francesco Soddu to Metropolitan Archbishop of Sassari, Italy, after attending a Masonic lodge opening and. Leo XIV also refused to approve bishops of the Society of St. Pius X for consecration and given his blessing to several bishops selected by the Chinese communist government.

A first-year review of the American pope’s episcopal selections last May revealed a pattern of prelates who support errors of women’s ordination, contraception and same-sex blessings.