The Vatican on Monday announced that Roman Catholic priests cannot bless same-sex marriages.

According to the AP, Pope Francis approved the statement from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's orthodoxy office.

The office issued a two-page statement in response to a question on whether Catholic priests could bless such unions.

“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator's plan,” the statement said.

“[God] does not and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be change by him,” it said.

Pope Francis has previously said that gay people are children of God and “have the right to be in a family.”

Conservatives applauded the church's position.

“The Vatican left nothing on the table,” Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League and a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, wrote on his group's website. “The door has been slammed shut on the gay agenda.”

(Related: Catholic League's Bill Donohue opposes gay marriage because marriage is not about love.)

Donohue has previously said that Pope Francis' welcoming tone wouldn't change the church's position on homosexuality or marriage.

New Ways Ministry, which advocates for greater LGBT acceptance in the Catholic church, said that some priests would ignore the Vatican's position.

“Catholic people recognize the holiness of the love between committed same-sex couples and recognize this love as divinely inspired and divinely supported and thus meets the standard to be blessed,” New Ways Ministry Executive Director Francis DeBernardo said in a statement.

Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice said that it was still possible for the church to bless individuals involved in a same-sex union.

“You can bless the individuals [in a same-sex union], you just can't bless the contract,” she said. “So it's possible you could have a ritual where the individuals get blessed to be their committed selves.”