Vatican won’t ‘bless sin’ of same-sex unions; Las Cruces LGBTQers ‘disappointed’

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — The Vatican has decreed that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions, saying that God “cannot bless sin.”

The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions.

The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”

“It feels like the same old, same old," said Robert McNamara, a gay Las Cruces man who left the Catholic Church decades ago. "It’s so disappointing with this Pope.”

McNamara met his husband, Karl Heist, 46 years ago. The two got married on their 40th anniversary.

He said he left the Catholic Church decades ago after reading a document written by Cardinal Jospeh Ratzinger of Germany, the man who would one day become Pope Benedict.

"It talked about the intrinsic moral evil of homosexuals," he recalled. "While they did not condone violence against homosexuals, they could understand why people did it.”

In the early 1990s, the couple was ecstatic to adopt their sons, Charles and Franklin.

“I was raised in the social justice aspect of Catholicism," McNamara explained. It was not about what you said. It was about what you did.”

Brother Caleb Oeming told ABC-7 he did not feel the traditional Roman Catholic Church accepted his status as a transgender man.

“I don’t want to be in a space where I’m tolerated because I have to be," Oeming said. "I want to be in a space where I’m invited to a table to share my gifts.”

Still devoutly faithful, he joined the North American Catholic Ecumenical Church. As a friar with the Franciscans of the Risen Christ, he encourages the LGBTQ community to not lose faith in God.

“Don’t be afraid to be who you’re created to be," Oeming said. "God loves you. You do not have to choose between being faithful and being who you are created to be. The two go together very well.”

The Vatican holds that gays must be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.”

Catholic teaching holds that marriage between a man and woman is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)