Welcome to the Council of Trend Podcast, a production of Catholic Answers.

Hey everyone, welcome to the Council of Trend Podcast. I'm your host, Catholic Answers

Apologists and speaker Trendhorn. I wasn't planning on talking about the

issue of the new Vatican document on blessings for same-sex couples and couples in

irregular situations because a lot of other voices were addressing it, but Ben Shapiro asked me to come on to his show to give my perspective.

So I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss this issue and the Catholic faith in a broader way to his audience.

In the interview that I had with Ben, which I'll share with you shortly, I wanted to

communicate that some reports about this new Vatican changed its teaching on marriage or that the church is now

now allowing for formal liturgical blessings for same-sex couples that resemble gay

weddings.

That's not true.

The church has not changed its teaching on marriage and it has prohibited the kinds of things being advocated for in Germany,

like formal blessings in the ritual or liturgy for so-called same-sex couples.

But I also wanted to affirm that this document is confusing and Catholics

can rightly criticize it for lacking certain elements including references to things

like seeking God's blessing, specifically

to lead people to repentance from sin.

One thing I should have added in our interview is the scandal of this document blurring the lines between blessing

individuals who are in a sinful relationship so as to lead them closer to God and

creating a situation where it looks like a priest is blessing the sinful

relationship itself.

Even the phrase gay couple in the document can create this impression, and so it should have been avoided.

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