Vatican Slams the Door on Gay Unions

There will be no recognition of homosexual unions or marriage by the Catholic Church. It is non-negotiable. End of story.

Pope Francis has been under considerable pressure by gay activists, in and out of the Church, to give the green light to gay marriage. The statement released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to queries on this issue is the most decisive rejection of those efforts ever written.

The Church's top doctrinal office said, "it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e, outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex." It further noted that "since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit."

The statement made it clear that this "does not preclude the blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations, who manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching." It is homosexual unions that are the problem, not homosexuals.

Speaking of homosexuality, Vatican officials said it cannot "approve and encourage a choice and a way of life" that is "objectively disordered."
God, they declared, "does not and cannot bless sin." In short, "the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex."

This will not sit well with those Catholics who have been at war with the Church's teachings on sexuality. The German bishops, in particular, will be incensed. They have steadily been moving toward a Protestant church for some time, and this may force them to decide whether they really belong in the Catholic Church. In the U.S., we have also witnessed dissent from the clergy, as well as the laity.

It is important to remember that there is nothing fundamentally new about this statement: it reaffirms the Catholic Church's teaching on marriage. Nonetheless, it will be seen as controversial in some quarters, and that is because Pope Francis has been welcoming to homosexuals. In fairness to the pope, it is not his fault that some interpret his friendly approach as signifying an interest in changing Church doctrine. That's their problem.

To put it differently, it is one thing to say all persons possess equal dignity in the eyes of God; it is quite another to say that whatever they do is acceptable to God. Human status and human behavior are not identical.

Also, this document applies equally to heterosexuals. According to Catholic sexual ethics, cohabiting men and women are involved in an illicit relationship, and this statement is very clear about their status. Yet the media are likely to miss this point, so absorbed are they with gay rights.

Whatever previous confusion there was, is now gone. The Vatican left nothing on the table. The door has been slammed shut on the gay agenda.

Dr. Bill Donohue is president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. A former Heritage Foundation Bradley Resident Scholar, he has authored several books on civil liberties, social issues and religion. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from New York University. Read Bill Donohue's Reports — More Here.