Pope Francis has suggested that he is open to the idea of the Catholic Church blessing same-sex unions.
Responding to a group of five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm church teaching on homosexuality, he said that 바카라pastoral charity바카라 requires patience and understanding. 바카라We cannot be judges 바카라who only deny, reject and exclude.바카라
The Vatican had on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on July 11 after receiving a list of five questions, or 바카라dubia바카라, from them. In it, Francis suggested that blessings for homosexual unions could be studied if they didn바카라t confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.
The five cardinals 바카라 conservative prelates from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas 바카라 had challenged Pope Francis to affirm church teaching on gays, women바카라s ordination, the authority of the pope and other issues in their letter. This was ahead of a weeks-long global gathering to discuss the future of the Church that starts today.
Currently, the Vatican officially holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between a man and a woman. It continues to oppose gay marriage. In an explanatory note in 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the church couldn바카라t bless gay unions because 바카라God cannot bless sin.바카라
However, Pope Francis has voiced support for same-sex spouses on several occasions recently. In August, the Pope said that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including the gay community.
In his new letter, Francis reiterated that matrimony is a union between a man and a woman but he wrote, 바카라Pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage.바카라
바카라Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better,바카라 he said.
Francis added that there is no need for dioceses or bishops conferences to turn such pastoral charity into fixed norms or protocols, saying the issue could be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
New Ways Ministry, which advocates inclusive Catholicism, said the letter 바카라significantly advances바카라 efforts towards LGBTQ+ people being welcomed in the Catholic church. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, welcomed the Pope바카라s openness.
바카라The allowance for pastoral ministers to bless same-gender couples implies that the church does indeed recognize that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God,바카라 he said in a statement, as quoted by Associated Press. 바카라Those recognitions, while not completely what LGBTQ+ Catholics would want, are an enormous advance towards fuller and more comprehensive equality.바카라
