The archbishop also spoke about the complementarity of men and women and in favor of giving women “more room in the Church, but without changing what is in the Gospel and what is in tradition of the Church.”
Stankevičs, who has served as the archbishop of Riga since 2010, underlined that in response to the issues of women’s participation in the Church and same-sex blessings, “we must be faithful to the holy Scriptures, and what the Church for 2,000 years has discovered by interpreting the Scriptures.”
“But if we talk about blessing, I would say if a homosexual comes as an individual person and says, ‘I would like to live in God’s grace,’ I see no contraindication to pray for him and help him,” he said.
“If two come and say ‘we want to live in chastity … and we are tempted,’ you can pray for them and also bless them to help them to live in chastity.”
“But if two come and say ‘we live together like a husband and wife and want to obtain a blessing,’ I see a big problem here because in this way we bless living in sin,” he added.
He pointed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches in paragraph 2358 that people with same-sex attractions “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and that “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
