VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Jan 4 moved to calm Catholic bishops in some countries who have baulked over last month’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples, telling them that the measure is not “heretical” or “blasphemous”.

In a five-page statement, the Vatican's doctrinal office also acknowledged that such blessings could be "imprudent" in some countries where gay people who receive them might become targets of violence, or risk prison or even death.

Catholic bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, have expressed perplexity and various degrees of dissent over the Dec 18 declaration, which was approved by Pope Francis.

The fact that the Vatican needed to issue a five-page clarification over an eight-page declaration – little more than two weeks after it was issued – appeared to underscore the extent of the confusion it caused in many countries.

After the original declaration was issued, a number of Catholic bishops’ conferences issued statements stressing that the blessings did not amount to an official approval of gay sex or a sacrament of marriage for same-sex couples.

The doctrinal office, known as the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, stressed these aspects in its statement on Jan 4.

It said that blessings for same-sex couples should not be seen as “a justification of all their actions, and they are not an endorsement of the life that they lead”.

The office said it wanted to clarify the reception of the declaration and recommended a “full and calm reading” of it.

It added that the declaration is “clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality”.

It said: “Evidently, there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church or Blasphemous.”

The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful, but homosexual acts are.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has tried to make the more than 1.35 billion members of the Catholic Church more welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, without changing moral doctrine.

Still, some African bishops’ conferences have made clear that they will not allow their priests to conduct such blessings.

The statement on Jan 4 advised “pastoral prudence” depending on local laws and circumstances.

Last week, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye called on citizens to stone gay people.

Uganda passed a law in May 2023 that carries the death sentence for certain categories of same-sex offences and lengthy jail sentences for others – a move that was widely condemned by Western governments and human rights activists.

“If there are laws that condemn the mere act of declaring oneself as a homosexual with prison and in some cases with torture and even death, it goes without saying that a blessing would be imprudent,” the Vatican statement said.

The original declaration and the Jan 4 statement both said blessings of people in same-sex relationships should not be included in Church rituals or in any way resemble a wedding, with the later statement saying that the blessings should be short.

“We are talking about something that lasts about 10 or 15 seconds. Does it make sense to deny these kinds of blessings to these two people who ask for them?“ it said. REUTERS