Pope: Critics of blessing LGBT couples are hypocrites

POPE Francis has said he sees ‘hypocrisy’ in criticism of his decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.

LGBT blessings were authorised last month by a Vatican document called Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust), but this has met with resistance in the Catholic Church, particularly from African bishops.

Hitting back, Francis told Italian Catholic magazine Credere: ‘Nobody gets scandalised if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalised if I give them to a homosexual. ‘This is hypocrisy.’ Credere released extracts of the interview yesterday, a day ahead of publication. The Pontiff also said that he ‘always’ welcomes LGBT people and remarried divorcees to the sacrament of confession, according to another passage published by Vatican media.

‘No one should be denied a blessing.

Undermining Church’s moral teachings

Everyone, everyone, everyone,’ the Pope said, repeating the slogan he used in August during a Catholic youth festival in Portugal.

Francis, who famously said, ‘Who am I to judge?’ when asked about homosexuality at the beginning of his papacy, has made it one of his missions to make the Church more welcoming and less judgmental.

However, conservatives say this risks undermining the Church’s moral teachings.

Francis has defended Fiducia Supplicans on several occasions but also stressed that such blessings do not amount to formal Church approval for same-sex unions.

‘When a couple comes forward spontaneously to ask for them, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who together have requested it. Not the union, but the persons,’ the Pontiff commented.

Bishops in Africa have effectively rejected the Fiducia Supplicans, saying it cannot be applied without causing scandal.

In some African countries, homosexuality is severely punished, with prison sentences or even the death penalty.