Pope Francis says priests cannot bless same-sex unions, dashing hopes of gay Catholics | ONN REPORTS

Pope Francis says priests cannot bless same-sex unions, dashing hopes of gay Catholics | ONN REPORTS

Pope Francis listens to Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle during a Vatican mass to mark 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines on March 14. (Pool/Reuters)

March 15, 2021 at 3:21 p.m. GMT+1

ROME

In a decree approved by Pope Francis, the Vatican on Monday said that priests cannot bless same-sex unions, describing such relationships as "not ordered to the Creator's plan."

“The blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit,” the church said.

The pronouncement from the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog carries the weight of a universal ground rule for the Roman Catholic Church — and it delves into one of the most controversial issues inside an institution divided over its stance on sexuality.

Many gay Catholics had been hopeful that Francis would create more openness inside the church, not only by speaking more welcomingly about homosexuality, but by changing church law.

In a documentary released last year, the pontiff had called for the creation of civil union laws so that same-sex couples are “legally covered.”

But Monday’s decree suggests that Francis, while interested in outreach to the church’s LGBT followers, does not favor a dramatic overhaul of church teaching. In various nations, the Catholic church has long fought against LGBT rights, and past popes have called same-sex unions deviant or a moral evil. Officially, the church teaches that homosexual acts are “disordered.”

“I think it’s hard for a lot of people to understand just how far removed the church is from human rights advances that are being made in the rest of society,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, America’s largest spiritual community of gay Catholics. She said the Vatican’s determination would “exacerbate” pain and anger for LBGT Catholics.

The decree, rather than changing official church practice, is an attempt to dissuade priests who might already be considering performing such blessings. Some bishops have spoken out in favor of giving church blessings to same-sex unions, and the issue has become a major topic in countries such as Germany, where many leaders feel the church needs to modernize in its social teachings.

Monday’s note referred vaguely to proposals to bless same-sex unions “being advanced” in some quarters.

But the church’s doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said blessings can only be invoked on a relationship when it is “positively ordered to receive and express grace.”

The church said such a determination was not intended to be “a form of unjust discrimination,” and called on priests to welcome those with “homosexual inclinations” with respect and sensitivity. The decree said individual gay people could continue to be blessed by the church, provided they show “the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching.”

The statement from the Vatican is fairly brief — one-and-a-half pages — and begins with a succinct question, asking whether the church had the power to bless same-sex.

The determination comes at the eight-year mark of Francis’s papacy — a period in which he has spoken warmly about his ministry to gays and lesbians and said, memorably, about somebody who is gay:

“He has extended a warmer welcome than any of his predecessors have done,” said Patrick Hornbeck, a Fordham University professor of theology who is gay, married and Episcopalian. “But today’s statement shows that his hospitality has limits.”

On a flight to Rome in 2018, Pope Francis said children who show “homosexual tendencies” should be treated with understanding and not be condemned or ignored. (Reuters)

The limit appears to extend to secular law but not into the realm of the church. Even his endorsement of same-sex civil unions last year was shrouded in debate: His comment surfaced in a documentary premiere, but it came from a portion of a 2019 interview with a Mexican broadcaster that was never aired. Some Vatican watchers theorized that the church had been uncomfortable with the pope’s comments or asked the Mexican channel to cut them.

Steve White, a fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, said people who expected Pope Francis to change the church’s position on same-sex unions were not being realistic. White, who describes himself as conservative, believes the pope is simply reiterating existing church teaching, even as he has expressed love for people who are LGBT without condoning their partnerships.

“This isn’t a waffling back and forth from Pope Francis,” he said. “This is totally consistent with statements like ‘Who am I to judge?’ People who don’t see that are misunderstanding the pope.”

Andrea Rubera, 55, spokesperson for Paths of Hope, an Italian Christian LGBT association, said the church’s pronouncement was a from-the-books determination that didn’t take into account the “reality” of peoples’ lives.

“They don’t realize that having a sexual life outside of marriage is not a choice, because there can be none,” Rubera said. “I would ask [the church]: What becomes of all of these believing same sex couples?”

According to the Pew Research Center, about 60 percent of U.S. Catholics support same-sex marriage. The level of support is even higher across much of Western Europe. But in Eastern Europe — particularly in Baltic nations — a significant majority of Catholics oppose same-sex marriage.

Bailey reported from New York to ONN. Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report.