{"id":20103,"date":"2023-12-28T13:13:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T18:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=20103"},"modified":"2023-12-28T13:13:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T18:13:40","slug":"vatican-states-that-the-church-can-bless-same-sex-couples-without-affecting-the-understanding-of-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/12\/vatican-states-that-the-church-can-bless-same-sex-couples-without-affecting-the-understanding-of-marriage","title":{"rendered":"Vatican States That the Church Can Bless Same-Sex Couples Without Affecting the Understanding of Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_20109\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20109\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/12\/vatican-gay-marriage_credit-Adobe-Stock-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20109\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/12\/vatican-gay-marriage_credit-Adobe-Stock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20109\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Vatican has issued a <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/press.vatican.va\/content\/salastampa\/it\/bollettino\/pubblico\/2023\/12\/18\/0901\/01963.html#en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">declaration<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0that permits churches to bless same-sex couples and those in \u201cirregular situations\u201d without \u201cproducing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage.\u201d According to the declaration, non-liturgical blessings can be given to same-sex couples and couples civilly remarried without an annulment. \u201cIn such cases, a blessing may be imparted that not only has an ascending value but also involves the invocation of a blessing that descends from God upon those who\u2014recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help\u2014do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.\u201d The declaration stated that requests for such non-liturgical blessings were a sign of a person\u2019s seeking God and should not be turned away. \u201cGod never turns away anyone who approaches him! Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The declaration stated that it was important that such blessings were differentiated from marital blessings, which the Catholic church still affirms as being between a man and a woman. \u201cIndeed, through these blessings that are given not through the ritual forms proper to the liturgy but as an expression of the Church\u2019s maternal heart\u2014similar to those that emanate from the core of popular piety\u2014there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one\u2019s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.\u201d The declaration further stated that its response should be sufficient for further questions. \u201cWhat has been said in this Declaration regarding the blessings of same-sex couples is sufficient to guide the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers in this regard. Thus, beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bishops were split over the declaration. Bishops in more liberal-leaning countries like France, Germany, and the United States appear to have embraced the declaration, seeing it as a step in the right direction towards limiting stigma against same-sex attracted individuals in the Catholic Church. <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/vatican-lgbtq-pope-blessings-29b1c90f245170f7cfba81a0d1dadac0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">German priest Rev. Wolfgang Rothe<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0praised the declaration. \u201cIn my church, such blessings always take place when anyone has the need,\u201d he said. He noted that, \u201cin many countries around the world there are opposing moves to maintain homophobia in the church. For homosexual couples living there, the document will be a huge relief.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">However, Archbishop Tomash Peta of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicherald.co.uk\/archbishop-prohibits-priests-from-performing-any-form-of-blessing-of-same-sex-couples-in-response-to-new-vatican-declaration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">openly rebuked<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the statement. \u201cThe manifest purpose of the Declaration of the Holy See,\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fiducia supplicans<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, is to allow \u2018the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.\u2019 At the same time, the document insists that such blessings are performed \u2018without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church\u2019s perennial teaching on marriage,\u2019\u201d Peta began. He warned pastors against the \u201cgreat deception\u201d of the declaration, writing that the declaration had made the Catholic Church \u201ca propagandist of the globalist and ungodly \u2018gender ideology.\u2019\u201d His rebuke also prohibited any priests in his diocese from doing such blessings. He affirmed that such blessings are only for those who are no longer practicing sinful practices such as cohabitation and homosexuality. He called on Pope Francis to revoke the permission, \u201cso that the Catholic Church may shine clearly as the \u2018pillar and ground of the truth\u2019 (1 Tim 3:15) for all those who sincerely seek to know the will of God and, by fulfilling it, to attain eternal life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Vatican has issued a declaration\u00a0that permits churches to bless same-sex couples and those in \u201cirregular situations\u201d without \u201cproducing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage.\u201d According to the declaration, non-liturgical blessings can be given to same-sex couples and couples civilly remarried without an annulment. \u201cIn such cases, a blessing may be&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":20109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vatican States That the Church Can Bless Same-Sex Couples Without Affecting the Understanding of Marriage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to the declaration, non-liturgical blessings can be given to same-sex couples and couples civilly remarried without an annulment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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