ROME (AP) – The Vatican on Monday decreed that the Catholic Church cannot bless gay unions as God “cannot bless sin.”
The Vatican’s Orthodoxy Office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response on Monday to the question of whether 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 welcoming and blessing gays by the church, which ratified it, but not between their unions, as such sacramental recognition could be confused with marriage.
The Vatican states that gays should be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.” Catholic doctrine holds that marriage, a lifelong union between man and woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended to create new life.
Since gay unions are not intended to be part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church, the document said.
“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which in themselves are to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and make them legitimate objects of a ecclesiastical blessing, since the positive elements exist in the context of a union not commanded is up to the Creator. plan, ”said the reply.
God “cannot and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man so that he can recognize himself as part of his love plan and allow himself to be changed by him,” it said.
Francis has agreed to provide legal protections to gay couples in same-sex unions, but that pertains to the civil sphere, not within the church. Those comments were made during an interview with a Mexican broadcaster, Televisa, in 2019, but were cut short by the Vatican until they appeared in a documentary last year.
In the new document and an accompanying unsigned article, the Vatican said questions had arisen in recent years about blessing gay unions and after Francis insisted on the need to better welcome and guide gays into the church.
In the article, the Vatican emphasized the “fundamental and decisive distinction” between gay individuals and gay unions, noting that “the negative judgment of same-sex unions’ blessing does not imply any judgment of individuals.”
But it explained the reason for forbidding a blessing from 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 “ commanded to be both to receive as well as express the good that is spoken. and given by the blessing. “
And it added that blessing a same-sex union could create the impression of some sort of sacramental equality with marriage. “This would be false and misleading,” the article said.