The Vatican has released a new statement clarifying its views on same-sex unions and declared they cannot bless the relationships.
Despite Pope Francis previously speaking favourably about same-sex attracted people, the Holy See has called these unions a 'sin' and homosexuality a 'choice.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's top doctrinal office, has released a statement saying: "It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage, as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex.
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"There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family."
The Vatican said it couldn't possibly validate a same-sex couple because that would mean it would be approving and encouraging 'a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God'.
The statement was issued in response to questions from pastors and members of the Catholic Church.
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It had to be approved by Pope Francis before being issued, which is interesting considering the Pontiff not only accepted same-sex unions, but approved of them back in October.
In a documentary released last year, the Pope said: "Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.
"What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered."
Following those comments, the Vatican tried to put them back into their own religious context.
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The Holy See insisted it hadn't changed its stance on gay relationships and insisted what the Pope said in the documentary was technically taken out of context.
The Vatican's Secretariat of State sent out a letter, obtained by CNN, and said: "More than a year ago, during an interview, Pope Francis answered two different questions at two different times that, in the aforementioned documentary, were edited and published as a single answer without the proper contextualization, which has led to confusion."
It also clarified that Pope Francis wasn't speaking about the Catholic Church in general when referring to creating a 'civil union law', but was focusing specifically on Argentina.
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The Pontiff was speaking about his opposition to a same-sex marriage law in Argentina more than a decade ago when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Featured Image Credit: PA