Vatican Denies the Possibility of Blessing Homosexual Couples

ROME — The Vatican’s doctrinal office stated Monday that the Church has no power to bless homosexual unions, noting that God Himself “does not and cannot bless sin.”

In its formal reply to the “dubium” (question) “Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?”, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) responded: “Negative.”

As signs “of spiritual effects that are achieved through the Church’s intercession,” blessings require both “the right intention of those who participate” and “that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord,” states the CDF explanatory text, with the approval of Pope Francis.

“Therefore, only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve those ends are congruent with the essence of the blessing imparted by the Church,” it declares.

The Vatican’s response explains that a blessing can only be conferred on something that is inherently ordered to good.