Vatican bars gay union blessing, says God ‘can’t bless sin’
Rome: The Vatican has decreed 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 on 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. The note immediately disheartened aggressive advocates for LGBT Catholics and threw a theological wrench in the debate within the very liberal believe nothing and approve everything German church, which has been at the forefront of opening discussion on hot-button issues such as the church’s teaching on homosexuali