James Martin, a priest who advocates for LGBT+ inclusion within the Catholic Church, commented following a Vatican statement that clergy must not bless same-sex unions.

The Vatican recently released an explanatory note insisting that clergy must not bless same-sex unions because God "cannot bless sin".

"Not since the anger over sex abuse in 2002 and 2018 have I seen so many people so demoralised, and ready to leave the church, as I have this week," Martin wrote.

He added: "And not simply LGBT+ people, but their families and friends, a large part of the church."

There has been widespread disappointment among LGBT+ Catholics when the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) released a statement banning blessings for same-sex couples . The note, signed by Jesuit Luis Ladaria Ferrer and archbishop Giacomo Morandi, argued that same-sex unions are "not ordered to the Creator's plan".

The Vatican insisted that regardless of the sins they commit, God loves all of his children. But, they also said God "does not and cannot bless sin". This reverts to its traditional view that same-gender relationships must not be accepted by the church.

Pope Francis has faced stinging criticism for approving the explanatory note. Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland and an outspoken Catholic campaigner, criticised the Vatican's statement as "unbearably vicious".

McAleese, who has a gay son, wrote to Catholic archbishop Eamon Martin.

In it she said Pope Francis' "chummy words to the press often quite reasonably realise hopes of church reform which are subsequently almost invariably dashed by firm restatements of unchanged church teaching".

With the church facing a walkout of followers, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican's laity office, said, "The church teaches marriage can only be celebrated between a man and a woman. But, I do want to insist that nobody be excluded from the pastoral care and love of the church."

Sources

• Pink News
• CathNews

They are the first females members and the first non-clerics to be appointed to the Congregation.

The three women appointed are:

• Linda Ghisoni, who is a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University and an undersecretary in the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. She is also a judge at the First Instance Court of the Vicariate of Rome and is a professor of law at Roma Tre University;
• Michelina Tenance, professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, is a consecrated woman. Among her various achievements and posts, Francis appointed her to the commission to study the female diaconate in 2016;
• Laetitia Calmeyn, lecturer of theology at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris. Her ministries include working as a palliative care nurse, a retreat organizer for youth, and a Catholic religion teacher. She has a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in Rome.

Other new appointees are:

• Father Sergio Paolo Bonanni, professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University;
• Father Manuel Jesús Arroba Conde, dean of the Institutum Utriusque Iuris at the Pontifical Lateran University.

The Congregation promotes and defends the doctrine of the faith and its traditions in all of the Catholic world.

Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer leads the Congregation.

Source

• Crux Now
• La Croix
• Image: The Irish Catholic