Academic defends Vatican bar of gay union blessing

An academic on Monday defended a declaration by the Vatican that the Catholic Church won't bless same-sex unions.

The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response 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 immediately pleased conservatives but disheartened advocates for LGBT Catholics.

Reverend Robert Gahl, Associate Professor of Ethics at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, felt the article was "actually a step forward because it offers clarity,"

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.

"The church in fact can't bless same-sex marriage because it's not the kind of thing that can be blessed," said Gahl.

The Vatican holds that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered."

Catholic teaching holds that marriage, a lifelong union between a man and woman, is part of God's plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.

Since gay unions aren't intended to be part of that plan, they can't be blessed by the church, the document said.

"What this document actually beautifully states, is that the church doesn't even have the power to bless same-sex unions," said Gahl.

He added, "the church considers marriage to be sacred and these unions are not comparable to marriage."

"What the Catholic Church teaches which is that attraction towards people of the same sex is disordered, it's intrinsically disordered and what it means by that is that sexuality is designed by nature and it's desired by God to lead to life, to give life and that requires the complementarity between man and woman."

Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that was in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church.

Those comments were made during a 2019 interview with a Mexican broadcaster, Televisa, but were cut by the Vatican until they appeared in a documentary last year.

While the documentary film fudged the context, Francis was referring to the position he took when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

At the time, Argentina's lawmakers were considering approving gay marriage, which he and the Catholic Church opposed.

Then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio instead supported providing legal protections for gays in stable unions through a so-called "law of civil cohabitation."