Vatican rules out blessings for gay relationships, despite calls for liberalization

The document reaffirms Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality when several liberal bishops, including the head of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, called for same-sex couples to be blessed in committed relationships. Priests in Germany have widely blessed such couples for years, as have clergymen in some other parts of Northern Europe.

Such blessings are wrong, the Vatican said on Monday, because they seem to “ approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered according to the revealed plans of God, ” adding that God bless sin. “

German bishops have confused with the Vatican on other matters, including the issue of giving communion to Lutherans, and are unlikely to give up their position on blessing gay unions. German bishops and lay Catholics are currently involved in a national synod that is considering changes in aspects of church life, including the possibility of female clergy and education about sexuality.

A move by German bishops to approve the blessings of homosexual unions would exacerbate tensions with more conservative parts of the church, including in Africa, and US Conservative bishops in the US are critical of what they see as too progressive a deviation of traditional teachings, with the Archbishop of Denver warning in 2019 that the German bishops are heading for a schism.

Pope Francis has taken a more liberal approach than his predecessors on some issues of marriage and sexuality, including divorce and homosexuality. In one of the most famous statements of his pontificate, he responded to a question about gay clergy in 2013: “Who am I to judge?” During his visit to the US in 2015, he met a gay couple in Washington, DC

In comments published last year, the Pope expressed support for same-sex civil unions, saying that gay couples “have the right to be legally covered,” a position he had taken as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

But the Pope also wrote that “there is absolutely no reason to consider homosexual unions in any way comparable or even somewhat analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”

Monday’s Vatican document acknowledged “ the presence in such relationships of positive elements, which in themselves should be appreciated and appreciated, ” but said such elements “ cannot justify these relationships and make them legitimate objects of an ecclesiastical blessing, as the positive elements exist within. the context of a commitment that is inconsistent with the Creator’s plan. “

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, an official manual of education, states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” the tendency to perform them is “objectively disordered,” and “under no circumstances can they be sanctioned.” But the catechism also states that gays “should be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Any sign of unjust discrimination in their respect should be avoided. “

Monday’s reaffirmation of traditional education is likely to disappoint progressive Catholics hoping for further change and encourage conservatives, as will the Pope’s decision last February not to make it easier to ordain married men to the priesthood.

“Unsurprisingly, it’s still disappointing,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBT Catholics. “This decision is powerless, however, as it will not stop the Catholic people in the pews, nor many Catholic leaders, who desire such blessings to happen.”

The issue of homosexuality has shaken other Christian denominations and sparked division with the worldwide Anglican communion between liberal churches in Europe and North America and more conservative churches in Africa. Last year, the United Methodist Church agreed in principle to split over disagreements over same-sex marriage and gay clergy, although a meeting to approve the move has been delayed due to the pandemic.

Write to Francis X. Rocca at [email protected]