“God Does Not And Cannot Bless Sin”: Vatican Bars Priests From Blessing Same-Sex Unions

The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God ‘cannot bless sin’.

The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions. The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was ‘negative”.

The note distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions. It argued that such unions are not part of God’s plan and that any such sacramental recognition could be confused with marriage.

In the article, the Vatican stressed the ‘fundamental and decisive distinction between gay individuals and gay unions, noting that ‘the negative judgment on the blessing of unions of persons of the same sex does not imply a judgment on persons.’

But it explained the rationale for forbidding a blessing of such unions, noting that any union that involves sexual activity outside of marriage cannot be blessed because it is not in a state of grace, or ‘ordered to both receive and express the good that is pronounced and given by the blessing.’