15 de março de 2021

11:03

With information from the Vatican

SÃO PAULO – The Vatican said on Monday that priests and other officials of the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions and that if they do, they would not be official.

The Vatican department responsible for official doctrine, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has published a response to questions in some parishes about the impact of these blessings, which were seen as a sign in favor of gays within the Church. The Congregation’s response was negative.

The document states that it is not lawful to bless a relationship or partnership, albeit a stable one, which involves sexual activity outside of marriage, “as is the case with same-sex unions”. Pope Francis approved the response, according to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The text says that it does not intend the message to be unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgy. The Congregation also said that the union between a man and a woman is a sacrament linked to marriage and that the blessing cannot be extended to same-sex couples.

“It’s not lawful to give blessings to relationships, even to stable ones, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (that is, outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life), as is the case of unions between people of the same sex”, it’s stated in the text.