In an extraordinary pushback against Pope Francis, some Catholic bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere say they will not implement the new Vatican policy allowing blessings for same-sex couples.

Others downplayed the policy approved this week by Francis as merely reaffirming the Vatican’s long-standing teaching about marriage being only a union between a man and a woman.

The reactions show how polarizing the issue remains and how Francis’ decade-long effort to make the church a more welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community continues to spark resistance among traditionalist and conservative Catholic leaders.

Some of the strongest responses came from bishops in Africa, home to 265 million Catholics, or nearly a quarter of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. Many of those Catholics live and their churches operate in societies where homosexuality is condemned and outlawed.

  • absquatulate@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Not sure why anyone should be surprised by this. No organised religion will bless same-sex couples ( not officially anyway ) because they sre unable to breed new worshippers and consequently the business will not grow. We will probably only see acceptance from them when they have shrunk into insignificance, and that’s still a while away.

    • snowe@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      You’re literally saying the exact opposite of what is happening. The pope literally did bless same sex couples. And numerous other denominations do the same, like Methodism.

    • EricKHoward@mastodon.social
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      11 months ago

      @absquatulate @MicroWave Ahem, would this “LGBT people can’t have children” thing please go away? Source: I know a gay man who’s a father, a lesbian who’s a mother, and a bisexual woman who’s a mother. All three had kids the old-fashioned way–no IVF, surrogacies, or adoption involved.

    • misophist@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      What religious groups are you experienced with that have a high enough occurrence of homosexual members that it completely negates growth by childbirth? Is this just a complete fantasy in your head? I’m not familiar with any groups where that would even remotely be a problem.