Unions between same-sex couples, an important division in all Christian Churches

Catholics around the world are deeply divided over the Vatican’s recent statement giving priests more freedom to bless same-sex couples. Supporters of LGBTQ inclusion welcome the move. But some conservative bishops attack the new policy a betrayal of the Church’s condemnation of sexual relations between homosexual couples or lesbians.

Surprisingly, the explosion of debate in Catholic ranks coincides with developments in two other international Christian denominations (the global Anglican Communion and the United Methodist Church) that are fracturing over differences in policies related to the LGBTQ community.

Taken together, this is a dramatic example of how – in a religion that emphasizes God’s love for humanity – divisions over marriage, sexuality and gay and lesbian inclusion are proving insurmountable in the near future in many sectors of Christianity.

The Catholic Church is experiencing a surprising crisis due to the reactions of hundreds of bishops and entire episcopal conferences who have condemned the pontifical document Fiducia Supplicans which authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples, clarifying that it is a pastoral gesture that does not affect the blessings and liturgical actions.

Catholic marriage between a man and a woman is safe, say the Pope and the Argentine cardinal Víctor “Tucho” Fernándezarrived in Rome in July to become the pontiff’s right-hand man as prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Although the document conceived by Fernández and approved by the Pope, together with subsequent clarifications in a statement signed by the Argentine cardinal, establish that the blessing of Catholic homosexuals, in particular couples, represents a pastoral gesture and not a ritual, sacred gesture, which has nothing to do with a Catholic wedding, the hurricane of protests affects a large part of world Catholicism, with very strong peaks of reaction: that of the African churches.

Africa is the continent where the Catholic faith expands the most. There the rebellion of the episcopal conferences, priests and parishioners takes on worrying dimensions. At the basis of this crisis that affects the authority of the Argentine pontiff is the historical culture of Africans, who are against homosexual activities.

Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University and pastor of a Baptist church, says it has become increasingly difficult for Christian denominations to accommodate clergy and congregations with opposing views on same-sex relationships, especially because such marriages have become legal in much of the Western Hemisphere.

“Many denominations are in a position where a decision needs to be made; You can no longer be undecided,” said Burge, a specialist in religious demography. “This is the tension they face: how to retain older conservatives and at the same time attract younger ones.”

For global denominations – particularly Catholics, Anglicans and United Methodists – Burge sees another source of tension: Some of their greatest growth in recent decades has occurred in socially conservative African countries where same-sex relationships are taboo.

“African bishops have this ammunition,” Burge said. “They say to the West: ‘We are the ones who are growing.’ You have the money, we have the numbers.’”

Among Christian denominations, the Anglican Communion is second only to the Catholic Church in geographical extension. Divisions over marriage, sexuality and LGBTQ inclusion have roiled the communion for years and widened on Dec. 17, when Church of England priests offered officially sanctioned blessings to same-sex couples for the first time.

The Church of England’s ban on religious weddings for gay couples persists, but the decision to allow blessings has angered several conservative Anglican bishops in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.

A split is unfolding in slow motion in the United Methodist Church.

A few years ago it was the third largest denomination in the United States, but a quarter of American congregations were recently allowed to leave due to controversies surrounding policies related to the LGBTQ community.

Sources: Associated Press