In trouble for gay Catholics, Vatican says church can not honor same-sex unions

In trouble for gay Catholics, Vatican says church can not honor same-sex unions

VATICAN CITYVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican claimed on Monday that priests can not honor same-sex unions which such blessings are not legitimate, in a ruling that substantially let down gay Catholics that had hoped their Church was coming to be more inviting under Pope Francis.

In some countries, such as the USA and Germany, churches and preachers have actually begun blessing same-sex unions in lieu of marriage, as well as there have been calls for bishops to de facto institutionalise these.

Yet conservatives in the 1.3 billion-member Church have actually shared alarm system over these methods, especially those in Germany where a minimum of 2 bishops, including Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, among the pope's top consultants, have actually shown assistance for some kind of \"pastoral\" blessing.

In reaction to formal questions from a variety of dioceses on whether the technique was allowed, the Vatican's doctrinal office, the Churchgoers for the Teaching of the Faith (CDF), released the ruling: \"Negative\".

Pope Francis accepted the feedback, the CDF said, including that it was \"not planned to be a kind of unfair discrimination, but instead a pointer of the truth of the liturgical ceremony\" of the rite of marriage as well as the true blessing associated with it.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the gay Catholics team New Ways Ministry, said \"It is not shocking, however still unsatisfactory, that the Vatican has actually reacted 'no'.\"

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive supervisor of DignityUSA, which likewise supports gays in the Church, claimed the rejection \"will exacerbate the pain and rage of LGBTQI Catholics and our households\" and also harm \"pairs that live deeply caring and also fully commited partnerships\".

From the moment he was archbishop in his native Argentina, Pope Francis has actually sustained the right of gay pairs to have civil lawful protections but has actually always opposed gay marriage.

He also has had meetings with gay couples as well as in 2013 made the now well-known statement \"Who am I to judge\" concerning gays trying to obey the Church's rules.

The Church educates that being gay is not inherently sinful but prohibits same-sex sexual activity.

The head of the German diocesans' meeting, Georg Baetzing, claimed the Church there had actually mirrored \"on the living circumstance of individuals today\" in what he called \"effective relationships\" which the Vatican judgment would be part of future discussions.

A separate explanatory note from the CDF stated that while the true blessing of same-sex couples was not licit, the decision \"in no chance diminishes the human and also Christian factor to consider in which the Church holds everyone\".

It likewise stated that Church might present blessings \"to specific persons with homosexual inclinations who show up the will to reside in fidelity to the exposed plans of God as proposed by Church training\".

A Bench Research study study last year showed that a bulk of Catholics in the United States and Western Europe approved of gay marital relationship while a bulk in Eastern Europe and also previous Soviet-bloc countries opposed it.

Churches in Africa and also Asia additionally strongly oppose gay marriage. Traditionalists have cautioned that arguments on homosexuality have generated debilitating departments in various other Christian Churches, such as the Anglican communion.

Last year, the Vatican needed to move to make clear comments attributed to Pope Francis on civil union legislations in a documentary, claiming they were taken out of context and also did not indicate a modification in Church doctrine on gay people or support for same-sex marriage.

The remarks credited to the pope in the film upset conservatives and also they praised the Vatican's information.

Reporters later found that 2 separate quotes in response to different concerns were mated to appear as one, removing the interfering context and concerns.

(Coverage By Philip Pullella; Additional coverage by Maria Sheahan in Berlin; Modifying by Raissa Kasolowsky and also Giles Elgood)

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