The Vatican issued a strong rebuke against gay unions on Monday, saying that God “cannot bless sin.”

In response to a question about whether the Catholic clergy would bless same-sex unions, the Church, in a lengthy, two-page answer, said that they would not be in support.

According to Yahoo News, the explanation was approved by Pope Francis, who has previously publicly supported gay people.

“It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex,” the Vatican said in its statement.

The executive director of New Ways Ministry, Francis DeBernardo, told Yahoo News that same-sex unions “meets the standards to be blessed.”

“Catholic people recognize the holiness of the love between committed same-sex couples and recognize this love as divinely inspired and divinely supported,” he said.

The decision comes after Pope Francis made previous statements on the issue, telling Spanish language media company Televisa, “homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God.”

Adding, “You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”