The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published a note on Monday 15 March 2021 reaffirming the impossibility of blessing homosexual unions with the consent of Pope Francis.
According to Vatican Radio, CDF does not consider such unions to be licit from a religious point of view. “The Church does not have the power to grant blessing to unions of persons of the same sex,” the Congregation’s note states. “It is therefore not licit for priests to bless same-sex couples who ask for some kind of religious recognition of their union,” the Holy See says.
The CDF, whose task is to promote and protect doctrine and morals in conformity with the faith throughout the Catholic world, wanted to avoid the risk of mistakenly equating the blessing of same-sex unions with marriage.
However, in the text revealed by the French-language midday news, the distinction between union and persons is fundamental. “The negative response on the union does not imply a judgement on the persons concerned, who must be welcomed with respect, compassion and delicacy, avoiding any mark of unjust discrimination,” the magisterial document states.
Already in June 2003, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) had published a document clearly indicating the refusal of the Catholic Church to bless homosexual marriages. “Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would not only mean approving deviant behavior but also obscuring fundamental values belonging to the common heritage of humanity,” it justified its position.
This time, a nuance is added to the statement that it does not exclude individual blessings for homosexual persons who demonstrate a willingness to live in fidelity to God’s revealed design.
So far, most churches in the world do not accept same-sex marriage. Some countries, however, have already legalized such a union. Pope Francis also supports same-sex civil unions since last year in 2020.
Gérard Rugambwa
