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A group of more than 300 liberal Roman Catholic pastors in Austria want to ignore the Vatican ban on the blessings of homosexual partnerships.
"This decree offends many Christians and obscures and discredits the liberating message of Jesus," wrote the movement known as the Pastors' Initiative in a statement.
On Monday, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that it did not believe that the Catholic Church was authorized to bless homosexual partnerships.
The Pastors' Initiative protested the congregation's argument that blessings in human relationships are only possible when they serve God's purposes.
"We vehemently protest against the assumption that same-sex loving couples are not part of the divine plan," write the priests and deacons.
They announced that they would continue to bless same-sex couples.
“A state of the art theology establishes this responsible practice,” it said.
The pastors' initiative published a "call to disobedience" back in 2011, in which they called for women and married men to be admitted as priests, among other things.
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