A blessing in the absence of a religious marriage: the Church of England will allow priests to bless same-sex couples, a compromise that is causing a stir within the Anglican cult.
Strong image of the very unusual divisions which agitated the general synod, the elected body responsible for deciding on questions of doctrine of the Church of England: its spiritual leader Justin Welby appeared on the verge of tears during the eight hours of debates spread over the two days that will be needed to reach a decision.
Six years of consultation
Its nearly 500 members finally voted Thursday by a comfortable majority – 250 for, 181 against and 10 abstentions – in favor of these blessings. If the motion adopted Thursday recognizes “the failure of the Church” concerning the reception of LGBT + people and “the evil that LGBT + people have suffered and still suffer in the life of the Church”, it also confirms the ban to solemnize religious marriages between persons of the same sex.
This decision is the result of six years of consultations, which have brought to light the fractures crossing the Anglican Church and its 85 million faithful, on this question. While the Church of England appears to be generally more liberal on the attitude to adopt vis-à-vis the LGBT+ community, this is not the case for other Anglican Churches, in particular in certain countries of sub-Saharan Africa where homosexuality is still considered a crime.
sharp criticism
“The synod has now reached a result. I recognize that some will be deeply grateful and others will be hurt by it,” the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, said after the result was announced.
Even in England, the proposal submitted to the synod had aroused strong criticism, having notably targeted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in favor of this blessing. “For the first time, the Church of England will welcome same-sex couples to church publicly, wholeheartedly and happily,” he said after the vote in a joint statement with the church. Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
“Only losers”
Since 2005, it has authorized homosexual men and women united in a civil partnership to become priests. But it has repeatedly rejected proposals to celebrate the marriage of homosexual couples and the Anglican Church had sanctioned its American and Scottish branches in recent years which had taken opposite decisions.
Despite Thursday’s vote, defenders of the LGBT + community remain unsatisfied. Synod member and LGBT+ activist Jayne Ozanne, who abstained at the time of the vote, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the outcome of the debate. “We are sending a message that few people in the country will understand,” she said on Twitter.
It’s a vote that makes “only losers”, reacted John Dunnett, of the very conservative Evangelical Council of the Church of England, opposed to this proposed blessing. “Those who wanted more change will continue to demand and push for greater change…and those of us who wanted to stick to the historical teaching of the Church of England and the position of the majority of the Anglican Communion say things have gone too far,” he added.
The Vatican creates controversy
The Anglican Church is not the only Christian church to face tensions over this issue. Within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has created controversy by adopting a relatively liberal position on homosexuality, judging that those who criminalize it are “wrong”.
But it does not deviate from the line of Catholic teaching on marriage, defined as the union between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation, and, in 2021, the Vatican had reaffirmed that it considered homosexuality as ” a sin “.