(LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Joe Biden, a Catholic, welcomed the Vatican’s recent approval of blessings for same-sex couples, according to his press secretary.
“The president, along with many Catholics around the world, welcomed the declaration from the Vatican done with the approval of Pope Francis that allows for the blessing of same-sex couples,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday press conference when asked about Biden’s response to the Vatican decision.
Jean-Pierre added, “Certainly anything specific we would have to refer to the Church, but obviously we welcome the step in the church ministry to the LGBTQ people.”
On Monday, December 18, Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández issued Fiducia Supplicans, which allows “blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex” in contradiction to the unchangeable Catholic teaching that the Church cannot bless sinful relationships.
While Fernández makes clear in the document that such blessings must not be construed as blessings “proper to the sacrament of marriage,” he admits that the text’s “theological reflection, based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis, implies a real development from what has been said about blessings in the Magisterium and the official texts of the Church.”
Contrary to some commentators’ interpretation that Fiducia Supplicans allows only for blessings of individuals regardless of their moral state, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has pointed out that the blessing of a couple automatically signifies the blessing of the “relationship that unites them.”
Furthermore, Fernández suggests in the document that there is “good” in same-sex relationships, which defies the reality of such relationships as gravely morally sinful. He states that the same-sex couples permitted to be blessed “beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and relationships be invested, healed and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Despite his self-proclaimed Catholic faith and regular Mass attendance, President Biden has defied Catholic teaching by presiding over the most pro-abortion administration in U.S. history, and remains a zealous supporter of decriminalized preborn child killing.
Biden is also an ardent supporter of homosexual “unions,” and has even presided over the “marriage” of two men.
Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys. pic.twitter.com/0om1PT7bKh
— VP Biden (Archived) (@VP44) August 1, 2016
Biden announced his support for redefining marriage in May 2012 before Barack Obama officially changed his position on the issue, adding that the TV show “Will and Grace“ had done “more to educate the American public” about homosexuality than anything else.
The president’s current press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is openly homosexual.