The recent announcement by the Vatican, that Roman Catholic priests are now allowed to bless same-sex unions, has resulted in condemnation from many conservatives in the Catholic Church, the Christian Post reports.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which made the announcement on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, added that this ‘spontaneous blessing’ of same-sex couples was not an acceptance of the union as a marriage.

However, conservative Catholics, including Tomash Peta, the Archbishop of Kazakhstan, condemned the announcement, calling it a ‘great deception.’ He called on Pope Francis to rescind the announcement, which he both approved and signed.

Peta added that despite the ruling, priests in his jurisdiction would not be allowed to bless same-sex or irregular marriages.

The Vatican has yet to respond to Peta’s challenge, though Pope Francis has recently started removing conservative bishops who question his Liberal agenda.

Many wonder if the Vatican’s announcement will lead to a second great reformation that would result in thousands of members leaving the Catholic denomination, similar to what happened under Martin Luther in 1517. Luther’s condemnation of the financial corruption and questionable theology in the Catholic Church at that time led to the formation of the protestant church.

A similar split has already taken place in a large US denomination over the issue of same-sex marriage.

According to the most recent reports, nearly 25% of Methodist churches have left the denomination because of the controversy.

While the Methodist church officially forbids same-sex marriages, churches are openly defying the rules without suffering any consequences.

Many of the over 7,600 churches that have left or are in the process of leaving the denomination have reformed into a new organization called the Global Methodist Church. The conservative churches that are leaving also tend to be the largest in the denomination.

Before the division, there were approximately 30,000 churches in the Methodist denomination.