Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen took part in the plenary meeting of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission.

On February 20, 2024, the next plenary meeting of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission was held in a remote format under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary.

Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen took part in the work of the plenum.

The main item on the agenda of the meeting was the discussion of the text of the declaration “Fiducia supplicans”, adopted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church. The document, signed by the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Manuel Fernandez and the Secretary of the Doctrinal Department, Armando Matteo, approved and signed by Pope Francis, was published on official Vatican resources on December 18, 2023. The order to analyze the document was given to the Synodal Biblical Theological Commission by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

The meeting opened with an opening speech by Metropolitan Hilarion, in which the chairman of the SBBC gave a brief overview of the current areas of work, also reported on the tasks that require solutions within the framework of the plenum.

The meeting participants expressed their positions regarding the theological content of the declaration “Fiducia supplicans”, which for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church proposed forms of blessing “same-sex unions”. Members of the Synodal Biblical Theological Commission were unanimous that this innovation reflected a sharp departure from Christian moral teaching.

The results of the commission’s work on this issue will be sent to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' for consideration.