Vatican bars gay union blessing

[airiefairie]

So gay people can be blessed, but their marriage cannot. Good to know they are consistent. Another reason that I am a "fallen away" Catholic... I do not need to participate in a church to have my faith - especially when that church seems to be so hypocritical.

Vatican bars gay union blessing, says God 'can't bless sin'

"The Vatican declared 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 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 sacramental recognition of them could be confused with marriage."

It is beyond ridiculous. Historically, one of the "cures" for homosexuality was to encourage conflicted young men to go into priesthood. Then they bent over backwards to cover up sexual abuse complaints. So, apparently it is OK to molest little boys (something ugly and evil), but it is not okay to bless the marriages of homosexual people (something beautiful based in love)? Sounds about right for the Catholic Church.

Comments

[ex_inklessej388]

It is not surprising, or at least should not be surprising. Yes the vast majority of Roman Catholic laity probably have no issue with same-sex marriage and blessing same-sex unions as a minimum. But a vast majority of the clergy do not feel this way. The pope himself, personally, might not be a member of that popular (and vocal) group but in the face of what the church calls her doctrines, there isn't any option for Roman Catholics. This is what happens when you've created an institution that claims to be infallible and incapable of error when interpreting God's law and a code of ethics for humanity in light of changing social environments. It is a zero sum game of chicken and none of the ones in any serious positions of power within the church are willing to blink and admit that something is wrong, or at least has been interpreted and taught wrong by the church herself. It's not surprising given the culture of the Roman Catholic church.

[mahnmut]

Even more evidence that religion is nutty, and Catholics rank even higher on the nutty scale than do your average religious folks. I do not understand how anybody with an IQ above about 3 can look at what the various religions have to say, and with the realizations that time and science have given us (such as the idea that diseases are caused by viruses and bacteria, not angering some sky-daddy because of inappropriate behavior) and still believe that the bronze age goat herders had an unchanging monopoly on what "god" really was, or is, or means, or intends.

[johnny9fingers]

The C'tholic Church's teachings on human stuff they had nothing but dogma and not evidence nor moral sense to rely on are...

1. Fucking evil.
2. Deranged.
3. The cause of great grief and sorrow to individuals and society at large.

Having been brought up in the C'tholic church I can happily say I am a de facto excommunicant.

Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum...