The declaration made on Monday by the Vatican left many people across the world in shock. The Vatican said that the Catholic Church will not bless same-sex marriage because God “cannot bless sin”. The Church does, however, welcome and bless gay people, they just do not bless their unions. The executive director of New Ways Ministry, Francis DeBernardo-who is an advocate for greater acceptance of gays in the church, said “Catholic people recognize the holiness of the love between committed same-sex couples and recognize this love as divinely inspired and divinely supported and thus meets the standard to be blessed.”

The Vatican itself claims that Gay people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, but claims that gay unions are not intended to be a part of God’s plan of procreation, so therefore they cannot bless gay unions. Francis will not give up on this topic, however. He has voiced his opinions in the past, claiming “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God.” After Francis had advocated for the better welcome of gays in the Catholic Church, the Vatican claimed that questions had been raised about whether or not the church should bless same-sex unions. Many other world leaders are getting involved and voicing their opinions on the Vatican’s recent decision. President of the Argentine Federation of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals, Esteban Paulon, said “Saying that homosexual practice — openly living sexuality — is a sin takes us back 200 years and promotes hate speech that unfortunately in Latin America and Europe is on the rise. That transforms into injuries and even deaths, or policies which promote discrimination.”

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