Priests oppose Vatican decree against same-sex unions

 | Updated: Mar 16, 2021, 10:30 PM IST

A band of Roman catholic priests is opposing the Vatican's decree on same-sex unions

The Vatican

The Vatican has often found itself at odds with new ideas

(Photograph:AFP)

Pope Francis Syria

Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, March 14, 2021

(Photograph:AFP)

Catholics surprised due to the new decree

Vatican on Monday, (March 15), said that priests could not bless same-sex unions and that these were not valid. But now, a group of Roman catholic priests in Austria has vocally opposed Church's new decree

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'This is a relapse'

"We members of the Parish Priests Initiative are deeply appalled by the new Roman decree that seeks to prohibit the blessing of same-sex loving couples. This is a relapse into times that we had hoped to have overcome with Pope Francis," said Parish Priests Initiative, the group headed by Father Helmut Schueller (pictured above)

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Uneasy past

The Vatican in 2012 cracked down on Schueller, stripping him of the right to use the title monsignor and saying he was also no longer a "Chaplain of His Holiness". 
 

(Photograph:AFP)