Rome (NEV), March 20, 2021 – The Catholic Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions. This was stated by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in answering to a question with a “responsum” approved by Pope Francis. “The declaration of illegality of the blessings of unions between persons of the same sex is not and does not intend to be – the text reads – an unjust discrimination, but rather to recall the truth of the liturgical rite and of what deeply corresponds to the essence of the sacraments, as the Church understands them”.
We talked about this with Pastor Alessandro Esposito, the first Protestant pastor in Italy – Trapani (Sicily), April 2010 – to bless the union of a same sex couple, two women of German nationality. In August of the same year, the Waldensian and Methodist Synod ruled in favor of the blessings (decision No. 83).
Pastor Esposito told NEV Agency that it was an itinerary, a grassroot initiative, based on the community consensus. “In fact – he explained – , in our community there was a group that specifically addressed these issues. The Waldensian Board obviously supported us in that process and in the same year, as mentioned, the Synod ruled in this sense. It was an interdenominational service, celebrated by three pastors of different denominations, two German-speaking women and a man, in the presence of many citizens, including lay people, in the Waldensian temple of Trapani. Not only the friends of the couple, but all the population was really affectionate and participatory. ‘God wants love and does not judge it’, this is what I thought at the time and I still think today. Jesus in its entirety tells us this. The way to follow is always to explain the reasons for our choices. Reasons that primarily concern the humanity and the rights of people, of all people regardless of their affectivity. That of 2010 was my first and last blessing of a homoafective couple, I would be happy to participate again. Sexuality is a problem only for the churches. Sex, on the other hand, is a component of people’s lives, to be treated with serenity. The announcement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith saddened and also upset me – pastor Esposito concluded -: but this doesn’t apply to the whole church. I am personally in contact with communities that have a completely different openness to this issue. To them I say: make your voices be heard! I would like a part of the Catholic world to stand out and dissent, I would like to hear more strongly the voice of the liberal Catholic world, I would like a Catholicism of dissent to emerge”.
, March 20, 2021 - The Catholic Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions. This was stated){kind=link}