Homosexual couples cannot receive a blessing from the Catholic Church. For the Innsbruck diocesan bishop Hermann Glettler “a disappointment”.

7.49 p.m., March 15, 2021

The church does not have the authority to give blessings to same-sex associations. A blessing of homosexual couples could therefore be considered “forbidden”, said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in response to a submitted “Dubium”, as the Vatican announced on Monday. Priests are not allowed to bless same-sex couples, who ask for some kind of religious recognition of their association.

According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the declaration is guided by the “sincere desire” to “accept and accompany homosexual persons to whom paths of growth in the faith are proposed”, as it is also called in the Exhortation Amoris laetitia, reported Vatican Radio.

“No judgment on the person”

The distinction between persons and associations is fundamental in the text of the Congregation. The negative answer to the Blessing of Connection does indeed involve no judgment on the individual data subjects, to be treated with “respect, compassion and tact”, avoiding “every sign of unjust discrimination”, as the magisterial documents have already affirmed.

“A disappointment”

The Innsbruck diocesan bishop Hermann Glettler admitted to Kathpress that the decision of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was “a disappointment” for all those who “hoped for a clearer sign of acceptance of homosexual couples”. All the more, the church must offer homosexual people in the church a spiritual home and strengthen everything that is good in their relationships, said Glettler, who is responsible for marriage and family in the bishops’ conference. “There is still a lot to learn in this regard,” because “the history of the superficial and hateful convictions will have a long lasting effect”, he said, but also saw “no judgment on homosexual people”. The Church must strive for the latter even more than before. “As a church, we would like to offer all gay and lesbian people who are unsure of their sexuality a welcome and a spiritual home in the church – and not only when they are celibate,” emphasized the Innsbruck bishop.