Tomash Peta, archbishop of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan,
has condemned the Vatican’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples.
In a significant shift in Catholic doctrine on Monday, Pope
Francis permitted priests to look kindly on queer couples seeking favours from
God.
Although the Vatican clarified that “such blessings should
not be conducted with any church rites that offer the impression of a
marriage”, the pope said “pastoral charity” requires patience and
understanding.
He added that priests should not become judges “who only deny, reject and exclude”.
In a joint statement on Tuesday alongside Athanasius Schneider,
auxiliary bishop, Peta called the pope’s new stance a “great deception”.
The archbishop forbade all priests and parishes in his
archdiocese from blessing same-sex couples, noting that it “directly and
seriously contradicts Divine Revelation and the uninterrupted, bimillennial
doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church”.
The clergymen said the Vatican’s orders do “not walk
uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel” and called on the Pope to
revoke the permission to bless couples in an “irregular situation” and same-sex
couples, so that the Catholic Church may shine clearly as the “pillar and
ground of the truth”.
Peta also warned priests that “this effort to legitimize
such blessings” will have “far-reaching and destructive consequences” and, at
least in practice, turns the Catholic Church into a “propagandist of gender
ideology”.
Since Pope Francis took office in 2013, he has worked to
reform church governance, making it less hierarchical and paying more attention
to those who have expressed concerns about exclusion.
In 2021, the Vatican decreed that the Catholic Church would
not bless gay marriages because God “cannot bless sin”.
But in a turn of events two months ago, the Pope hinted that
he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex unions.
The Pope’s attempts at reforming the church has been met
with stiff internal resistance with Peta being the first prelate to publicly
condemn the Vatican’s declaration allowing same-sex blessings.
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