Updated | Curia says ritual blessing of engagement not allowed for gay couples

Church practice does not permit the ritual blessing of gay engagements, a Curia spokesperson said.

“In terms of Church practice and discipline, the ritual blessing of engagement and wedding rings, and of engagement promises and marriage consent, is only allowed for engagements and marriages between a man and a woman,” a Curia spokesperson told the Times of Malta. 

Earlier, Archbishop Charles Scicluna met Dominican friar Fr Mark Montebello after the latter had blessed an engagement of a gay couple. The meeting was also attended by the Provincial of the Maltese Dominican Province, Fr Frans Micallef. In a brief statement, the Curia said that Scicluna has encouraged Dominican friar Fr Mark Montbello to continue his outreach to gay people, while requesting that he "continue to follow Church practice and discipline in the celebration of sacred rites and Church rituals".

The Curia said that Fr Montebello agreed that he would continue to follow Church practices and discipline in his pastoral ministry to gay people.

MaltaToday has as yet been unable to contact Fr. Montebello.

Photos of Fr Montebello blessing the rings during the engagement ceremony were uploaded on Facebook and carried by the Malta Independent.

Following the Curia meeting announcement, a Facebook page called ‘Support Fr Mark Montebello for Blessing a Gay Engagement’ was set up. The page, that has garnered over 700 ‘likes’, describes itself as a “support page in aide of Fr. Mark Montebello who will be facing Kurja (sic) charges for blessing a gay couple’s engagement rings.”

Fr Montebello publicly supported the civil unions legislation, arguing that it was the state’s duty to protect gay couples in the same way it protected heterosexual couples.

Last year, Mgr Scicluna - then Auxiliary Bishop - said that any Catholic MPs who planned on voting for the civil unions bill would be committing a “grave moral act” by doing so.

In an apparent reconciliatory move, Mgr Scicluna later attended an event for IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) organised by Drachma LGBTI, a Catholic LGBT group.

In 2013, Pope Francis told reporters "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" and has dined with gay and transsexual inmates in visits to prisons.

Recently though, the Pope spoke in opposition to gay marriage, and has declared that though homosexual orientation is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

In Belgium, a Bishop was quoted as having called for ecclesiastical recognition of gay relationships.

The official teaching that the Catholic church can recognize only male-female committed relationships has to change, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said.

“There should be recognition of a diversity of forms,” he said. “We have to look inside the church for a formal recognition of the kind of interpersonal relationship that is also present in many gay couples. Just as there are a variety of legal frameworks for partners in civil society, one must arrive at a diversity of forms in the church. … The intrinsic values are more important to me than the institutional question. The Christian ethic is based on lasting relationships where exclusivity, loyalty, and care are central to each other.”

The Bishop, the National Catholic Reporter reported, also made headlines in September when he issued a letter to the Vatican in preparation for the Synod on the family in October.