“If we received a sacrament in order to serve, how then, called to serve, could we say no?”, ask couple, 44 and 42, parents of two children
“Many individual bishops continue to prioritize Catholic sexual teaching against homosexual acts over and above Catholic social teaching and its prohibition against discrimination”
Bishop of Dresden-Meissen Heinrich Timmerevers wonders about “intention” behind Secretariat of State explicatory note, still intends to push ahead with blessings for gay couples
“Though he is not changing moral teaching, he is departing from traditional Catholic rhetoric and offering an inclusive, merciful vision to guide Church practice”
Secretary of State letter to Latin American bishops acknowledges selective editing in new documentary has created “confusion”, but says Francis’ apparent endorsement of gay partnerships refers only to “particular arrangements of the State”
Supporters of Pope’s comments “clericalist”, traditional marriage “common sense”, says Bishops’ spokesman and auxiliary of Valladolid Luis Argüello
On heterosexual and same-gender unions, in the Church “we have to be able to say that both are right and there’s space for both”, says Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Academic Martin M. Lintner hails Francis’ “significant step forward” in new documentary: “You cannot demand a legal possibility for something which you reject in and of itself and condemn as sin”
“Were the Pope to put his same-gender civil unions support in an official document, he could remove all doubt as to where he – and the Church – stand”
The pontiff’s remarks in a new documentary are “a way to express what Catholics believe about human dignity in response to new social and political conditions”
Also, ‘We Are Church’ Ireland “warmly welcomes… wonderful news”, “hugely significant step” of Francis’ statement in new documentary: “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family… They’re children of God”
“As a Church we have done a great job in making sure that homosexual people never even have the idea of turning to a priest”, laments Dresden cleric Christoph Behrens
Rome’s gay community has criticised a bishop for disciplining a priest who celebrated a same-sex civil union.
An Austrian theologian is pushing for sacramental blessings for same-sex couples, saying that God brings them together.
In a message made public today for the World Day of Vocations in May, Pope Francis has encouraged the Church not to be overwhelmed by life’s “tempests of difficulty, doubt and fear”, but instead to “take heart, do not be afraid!”.
The International Theological Commission (ITC) has issued a new document studying the relationship between faith and the sacraments.
A German theologian has insisted that Church same-sex blessings are “entirely possible” even under current Catholic doctrine.
Married couples are evangelizers on the move who, open to the Holy Spirit, become models of married life with their closeness, gratuitousness and the leaven of their witness.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx has said gay couples can receive a blessing in the Church, “in the sense of pastoral care”, even if that blessing can’t look like or be seen to recognise a marriage ceremony.