CV NEWS FEED // The Polish Episcopal Conference has joined the ranks of bishops all over the world in rejecting the Vatican’s latest directive to allow blessings for same-sex couples.
Polish bishops released its response on Thursday to the recent declaration from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, Fiducia Supplicans, which grants clergy the ability to bless “same-sex couples,” so long as the blessing does officially validate the status of said couples or resemble “any type of liturgical rite” similar to marriage.
“Avoiding confusion and scandal is virtually impossible,” if the Church allows priests to bless same-sex couples, the Polish bishops’ statement said, according to Catholic News Agency’s translation.
The Polish bishops stated: “a blessing makes sense when a person asks for it in good faith, i.e. wants to organize his life in accordance with God’s will expressed in the commandements.”
Like most clergy groups across the world that have rushed in to condemn Fiducia Supplicans, the Polish bishops took issue with the declaration’s particular sanction of blessings for “same-sex couples,” rather than individuals with same-sex attraction:
Since practicing sexual acts outside marriage, that is, outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open to the transmission of life, is always an offense against the will and wisdom of God expressed in the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, people who are in such a relationship cannot receive a blessing.
“The blessing is supposed to help and strengthen a person in breaking away from sin and leading a good life,” the Polish bishops added.
