The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pope allows blessings for same-sex relationships
Ritual cannot resemble marriage ceremony, he says.
Pope Francis has formally approved allow- ing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new docu- ment explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such bless- ings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual wi h the sacrament of marriage.
The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirm- ing that marriage is a life- long sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings in question must be non-litur- gical in nature and should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.
But it says requests for such blessings for same-sex couples should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive and broad definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy should not be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” as a precondition for receiving it.
“Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,” the document said. “The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures open- ness to the transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete cir- cumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live.”
He added: “It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”
The document marks the latest gesture of outreach from a pope who has made welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy.
m his 2013 quip, “Who am I to judge?” about a purport- edly gay priest, to his 2023 comment to The Associated Press that “Being homosex- ual is not a crime,” Francis has distinguished himself from all his predecessors wi h his message of welcome.
“The significance of this news cannot be overstated,” said Francis Debernardo of New Ways Ministry, which supports LGBTQ+ Catholics. “It is one thing to formally approve same-gender blessings, which he had already pastorally permitted, but to say that people should not be subjected to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive God’s love and mercy is an even more significant step.”
The Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed same-sex mar- riage.
And in 2021, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doc- trine of the Faith said flat- out that the church couldn’t bless the unions of two men or two women because “God cannot bless sin.”
That document created an outcry, one it appeared even Francis was blindsided by even though he had technically approved its publica- tion. Soon after it was pub- lished, he removed the offi- cial responsible for it and set about laying the groundwork for a reversal.
In the new document, the Vatican said the church must shy away from “doctrinal or disciplinary schemes, espe- cially when they lead to a narcissistic and authoritar- ian elitism whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.”
It stressed that people in “irregular” unions of extra- marital sex — gay or straight — are in a state of sin. But it said that shouldn’t deprive them of God’s love or mercy. “Even when a person’s relationship with God is clouded by sin, he can always ask for a blessing, stretching out his hand to God,” the document said.
Offering such a blessing isn’t legitimizing anything. But at the same time, the church shouldn’t judge, he said.
“Thus, when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,” the document said.
The Rev. James Martin, who advocates for a greater welcome for LGBTQ+ Catholics, praised the new document as a “huge step forward” and a “dramatic shift” from the Vatican’s 2021 policy.
The new document “recognizes the deep desire in many Catholic same-sex couples for God’s presence and help in their committed relationships,” he said in an email. “Along with many
holic priests, I wi l now be delighted to bless my friends in same-sex marriages.”
Traditionalists, however, were outraged. The traditionalist blogger Luigi Casalini of Messa in Latino (Latin Mass) blog wrote that the document appeared to be a form of heresy.
e church is crumbling,” he wrote.