Tthe statement of disapproval comes directly from the Vatican. Earlier this week we learned that the Catholic Church will not bless same-sex unions because God “cannot bless sin.”
The formal response, issued Monday by the Vatican’s Orthodox Office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the official statement after a question was asked whether Catholic clergy could bless gay unions or not.
The ‘negative’ response from the Vatican states that the church will continue to welcome and bless gay Catholics, but that they cannot do the same for same-sex unions because they do not believe they are part of ‘God’s plan’. The answer was approved by Pope Francis, a surprise to many in the Catholic Church who in earlier cases found that he was more progressive on the matter.
“They are children of God and have a right to a family,” Pope Francis previously said about same-sex civil unions in the 2020 documentary. Francesco. “No one should be thrown out of it or made miserable.”
Such progressive sentiments reflect a majority of Catholics. According to the Pew Research Center, 57% of Catholics are of the same sex. A study published by the Williams Institute in December 2020 estimated that there are 1.3 million LGBTQ Roman Catholics – 24.8% of all religious LGBTQ adults (5.3 million).
“I have seen an enormous number of LGBTQ people whose faith and religious identity are so strong that they continue to accept, even against huge walls of opposition,” Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, told NBC News about the report’s report. findings on the inclusion of LGBT in the Roman Catholic Church. “LGBTQ people have many spiritual gifts that can renew religious institutions if these groups do only the simple and sacred acts of welcoming and listening.”
‘I was angry, frustrated, aggravated, and yet not surprised at the revival of discussion points that the church has used over the years to despise the existence of LGBTQ.”
– Xorje Olivares
But now some LGBTQ Catholics are clashing over their place within the church after the discriminatory response of the Vatican and Pope Francis’ “disappointing” approval.
“It’s an absolute disappointment every time, and this week was no different,” said Xorje Olivares, a foreign Bostonian and host of the new podcast “Queer I Am Lord” for his digital brand Hey Xorje. ‘I was angry, frustrated, aggravated and yet not surprised at the repetition of the talk that the church has used over the years to despise the existence of LGBTQ, and once again use the’ sinful ‘rhetoric attributed to innumerable trauma suffered among strangers. seeking recognition. ”
“It’s a tragedy to alienate Catholics because of this one aspect of our being,” said Jobert Abueva, a gay writer in New Hope, PA, who is also a global marketer for a nonprofit. “We feel frustrated and even abandoned. It is based on anachronistic attitudes and is not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. ”
Abueva, who recently wrote an op-ed in The Philadelphia Investigator entitled “Why I’m Finally Dismissed from the Catholic Church,” argues that the church’s recent anti-LGBTQ stance has influenced its decision to resign.
‘The harsh, if not hostile, message to the LGBTQ community is a difficult pill to swallow for gay Catholics in America and around the world, who have long had to run the cord of our beliefs against a doctrine that is constantly’ a cold shoulder turns on this. one aspect of who we are as holistic beings, ”Abueva wrote in the op-ed.
But despite long-standing concerns, LGBTQ Catholics have found the church’s recent doubling of same-sex union exclusion sends mixed messages – especially from Pope Francis, which has disappointed some in the community.
‘I lost all hope. It is as if his progressive thinking was supplanted by more powerful forces with the Church and he has had to retire ever since.”
– Jobert Abueva
“I have lost all hope,” says Abueva of the pope, who is developing same-sex marriage in the future. “It is as if his progressive thinking has been supplanted by the church with more powerful forces and that he has had to retire ever since.”
“Since Pope Francis’ health is failing and he is under greater control of conservative forces in the Vatican, I have no hope and just as much interest,” said Dawn Ennis, transgender journalist, contributor to The Daily Beast, and managing editor of outsports.com. . “People who once believed he would bring about change should say goodbye and walk away.”
“I believe in him, as a man, as a human being,” says Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig, a black lesbian journalist and owner of MFC3 Media, because she still has confidence in the pope’s ability to become more progressive. i still much of the leadership of the papacy. ”
Some of the questions stem from how the Vatican appears to be taking a more outwardly aggressive stance towards the LGBTQ community, while not having as much public condemnation of other controversial issues within the church (such as sexual abuse of children by priests, sexism and racism ).
“As someone who grew up in the church, I lived through the crises in which people were involved in artificial life support, artificial insemination, the priest-sex scandals and women who demanded a greater role in church affairs,” Ennis said, who did not more Catholic is not. ‘My father told me stories of boys who were molested at his Catholic school, by priests who were so stupid that they did not care that they witnessed their victims through their victims. So I’m someone who expected the church to do the same with the LGBTQ community he did in every other controversy – ignore it, keep doing what he wants, and go on without apology or reflection. Like the boys who molested the priests while my father watched, I knew that the church would not care what we thought and would do with holy impunity what he wanted. ”
“The church is strangely more focused on this issue than others, and I can not quite figure out why,” Olivares says of what he describes as an ‘underlying problem’ of the Vatican’s focus on its LGBTQ members. “There are few attempts to address the patriarchal tendencies, the blatant misogyny or its oppressive history, but through God you will certainly hear every now and then a bishop or five say a few unkind words about the strange faithful.”
“But an underlying problem that keeps happening because of this strange fixation is an amalgamation of unrelated issues by hardline religious people or church critics, namely when it comes to the abuse scandal or accusations of pedophilia,” Olivares adds. “It subconsciously spreads the age-old tropics that queer people, especially gay men, are predatory individuals – so some are seen in the priesthood after revelations of abuse. The church’s attempt at damage control on this front is always at the expense of our community. ”
‘I will be one of the first to admit that it was exhausting to know how mentally violent it was for other LGBTQ people.”
– Xorje Olivares
And while other LGBTQ Catholics have expressed similar concerns, the decision to abandon the church altogether is not so black and white.
“I was a born and bred Catholic and still attended Mass when I was home in Arizona,” says Fitzhugh-Craig. ‘After going to parochial schools for twelve years, there are traditions and observations that I still appreciate. In recent years, however, the church as a whole has not conformed to my personal beliefs. ”
“Over the years, I have realized that the capital C is not the institution, but its congregations,” says Olivares. ‘In addition, it is incredibly difficult to remove me from Catholicism, as it is ingrained in my Mexican-American culture to almost synonymous. But I would be one of the first to admit that it has remained exhausting, and know how mentally violent it has been for other LGBTQ people, without improving it. ”