Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has said that despite a Vatican ruling, homosexual couples may receive church blessings. The cardinal reasoned that the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “does not preclude blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations.” He said that “if it is really the request for God’s blessing for a life path that two people, in whatever situation, are trying to walk, then they will not be denied this blessing.”