Today’s the Roman Catholic Church clarified its doctrine on same-sex marriages or civil unions for the LGBTQ community, something misconstrued by the media when Pope Francis made some personal public remarks on the subject Oct. 21, 2020. At that time, Francis said that gay and lesbian people are “children of God and have a right to family, and that “[n]obody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it.” Francis made his feelings known in a controversial documentary,” Francesco,” exploring his personal views by openly gay filmmaker Evegny Afineesky, whose film mislead gay audiences into thinking the Vatican, under Pope Francis, was seeking to change official doctrine on same-sex marriage or civil unions. In “Francesco,” Pope Francis expressed his support of gay and lesbian rights, including legal protections under law with same-sex marriage and civil unions.
Todoay’s clarification by the Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith makes clear the Vatican “declares illicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such.” “Does the Church have the power to give the blessings to unions of persons of the same sex?” the question asked. “Negative,” replied the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, responsible for enunciating and defending Roman Catholic doctrine. Gay and lesbian groups will no doubt be up in arms over the Vatican’s clarification today, thinking, as Afineesky’s 2020 documentary suggested, that Pope Francis supported same-sex marriage or civil unions. Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “declares illict any from of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such,” meaning the Catholic Church will not offer a sacrament or official blessing for same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Clarifying official Church doctrine was important because of the misinterpretation of various LBGQT groups after Afineesky’s controversial documentary. “The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of ecclesial blessing,” read the statement from the Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Francis, in his personal remarks in Afineesky film, expressed support for legal protections afforded to the LBGTQ community. Because the Church offers no sacrament to the same-sex civil union or marriage, doesn’t mean the Church bans the LGBTQ community from receiving other sacraments in the Church. LBGQT groups, amounting to about 4.0% of the U.S. population, demand the same civil rights’ protections as the African American community.
Vatican’s clarification today makes no reference at all to the civil protections offered to the LBGTQ community, only specifying Roman Catholic doctrine when it comes to issuing sacraments or blessings to same-sex unions or marriage. Demark was the first nation to pass a same-sex civil union law May 26, 1989. It wasn’t until April 25, 2017 that the Danish parliament passed the first same-sex marriage law. Currently 29 countries have same-sex marriage laws, making no reference for how independent religious group approve or don’t approve with faiths same-sex marriage or civil union laws. On June 26, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down any remaining state bans on same-sex marriage. LBGTQ civil rights groups sometimes conflate the rights of religious institutions to maintain their own doctrine with same-sex marriage or civil union legal protections, something clarified today by the Vatican.
Today’s Church ruling antagonizes LGBTQ groups fighting hard for equal rights, especially the right of the community to live freely without “sin.” Vatican clarified that under Catholic doctrine any blessing to a same-sex marriage or union would “imitate” the nuptial blessing “God, “does not and cannot bless sin,” clarifying the brutal truth of LGBTQ practicing Catholics that the Church can give individual sacraments to but not same-sex marriages and civil unions. Responding to critics of the Vatican policy on same-sex marriage or civil unions, the Church said it does not consider LBGTQ Catholics as lesser members or does not consider the doctrine prohibiting sacrament for same-sex marriage of civil unions as “unjust discrimination.” Vatican officials welcome the LGBTQ community but says the Church “does not have and cannot have” blessings for same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Pope Francis made his official position about same-sex marriage or civil unions known in 2016. “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and the family,” Francis wrote in Amoris Laetitia [The Joy of Love], a papal treatise on families, trying to make the Church more inclusive, especially for Catholics subject to receiving sacraments after divorce. Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith clarified the Church’s official position after Pope Francis words were taken out of context in Afineesky’s 2020 documentary, showing the holy father’s support of civil unions to afforded the LBGTQ community as legal protections. Today’s ruling should not drive more LBGTQ Catholics from the Church, since most of the community find acceptance in more open-minded Protestant faiths.
