ROME (AP) – The Vatican decreed on Monday that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions, as God “cannot bless sin.”
The Vatican’s Orthodox office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on Monday released a formal response to a question about whether the Catholic clergy can bless gay unions.
The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”
The decree distinguished between the reception and blessing of the church by gay people, which confirmed, but not their unions, as this sacramental recognition could be confused with marriage.
The Vatican maintains that gays should be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.” Catholic teaching holds that marriage, a lifelong union between a man and a woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended to create a new life.
Since gay unions do not intend to be part of this plan, the church cannot bless them, according to the document.
“The presence in these relationships of positive elements, which in themselves must be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and turn them into legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist in the context. of an unordered union to that of the Creator. plan, ”the response said.
God “cannot and cannot bless sin: bless the sinful man, that he may acknowledge that it is part of his plan of love, and allow himself to be changed,” he said.
Francis has approved providing legal protections to same-sex couples in same-sex unions, but this refers to the civil sphere, not within the church. These comments were made during an interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa in 2019, but were cut by the Vatican until they appeared in a documentary last year.
In the new document and in an unaccompanied article, the Vatican said questions had been raised about the blessing of gay unions in recent years and after Francis had insisted on the need to better welcome and accompany the gays in church.
In the article, the Vatican stressed the “fundamental and decisive distinction” between homosexuals and gay unions, noting that “negative judgment on the blessing of same-sex unions does not imply a judgment on people. “.
But he explained the reason for forbidding the blessing of such unions, noting that any union involving sexual activity outside of marriage cannot be blessed because it is not in a state of grace, or “ordered to receive and express the good that is pronounced and given by blessing “.
And he added that blessing a homosexual union could give the impression of a kind of sacramental equivalence to marriage. “That would be wrong and misleading,” the article said.