ROME – Less than a month after issuing an instruction outlining the reasoning and method for giving non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples and those in irregular unions, the Vatican has published a clarification amid a flurry of backlash and confusion.

In a 4 January press release, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) said it wanted to “help clarify” the mixed reactions to the declaration and urged “a full and calm reading” of the document in order to better understand “its meaning and purpose”.