VIENNA (Reuters) – A dissident group of Roman Catholic priests leading a disobedience campaign against the Vatican said on Tuesday that it would continue to bless same-sex couples, defying Church orders.
The Vatican said on Monday that priests cannot bless same-sex unions and that such blessings are not valid, in a decision that disappointed gay Catholics who hoped their church was becoming more welcoming under Pope Francis.
In some countries, parishes and ministers have begun to bless same-sex unions instead of marriage, and there have been calls for bishops to actually institutionalize these blessings. Conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church of 1.3 billion members have expressed concern about such practices.
“We, members of the Pastors’ Initiative, are deeply shocked by the new Roman decree that aims to prohibit the blessing of couples who love the same sex. This is a relapse in times that we hoped to overcome with Pope Francis,” said the Austrian. group based said in a statement.
“We – in solidarity with so many – will not reject any loving couple in the future who ask to celebrate God’s blessing, which they experience every day, also in a worship service.”
The Pastors’ Initiative, led by Father Helmut Schueller, has long been a stumbling block in the Vatican. The group wants Church rules to change so that priests get married and women become priests.
He said he would break Church rules by giving Communion to divorced Protestants and Catholics who remarry.
Founded in 2006 by nine priests, the initiative says it now has about 350 members in the ranks of the official Church and more than 3,000 lay supporters.
The Vatican in 2012 repressed Schueller, depriving him of the right to use the title of monsignor and saying that he was no longer a “Chaplain to His Holiness” either.
Schueller, a former deputy to the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, received the honorary title as head of the Austrian branch of the Catholic charity group Caritas.
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Gareth Jones)