Catholic priests cannot bless gay unions as God 'cannot bless sin'

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s orthodoxy office, was responding to a question about whether Catholic clergy are able to bless gay unions.

The two-page response, published in seven different languages, was approved by Pope Francis.

The decree made clear that although the church welcomes gay people, they do not give their unions any sacramental recognition.

The Vatican holds that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.”

Catholic teaching describes marriage as a lifelong union between a man and woman, is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.

The decree from the Vatican said that as gay unions are not part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church.

It said: “The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”

It continued to say God “does not and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him.”

Gay Catholics were hopeful that Pope Francis would create more openness inside the church for the homosexual community.

Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that is in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church. 

In 2019, Pope Francis was speaking with Mexican broadcaster, Televisa.

He said: “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God.” Speaking of families with gay children, he said: “You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

But in terms of church teaching, Monday’s decree suggests Pope Francis is not in favour of any major changes.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that blessings can only be invoked on a relationship when it is “positively ordered to receive and express grace.”

“For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex,” the church wrote.

The decree also explained how gay people can still continue to be blessed by the church if they show “the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching.”

They also added that such determination was not intended to be “a form of unjust discrimination” and called on priests to continue to welcome those with “homosexual inclinations” with respect and sensitivity.