Pope Francis.
Newsone Nigeria reports that Pope Francis on Monday, December 18, 2023, allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, a significant advance for LGBT people in the Roman Catholic Church and a shift in the church’s approach to LGBTQ+ people.
This online news platform understands that the blessings on same-sex marriage may be carried out providing they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies, nor at the same time as a civil union, according to a Vatican document approved by the pope.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church said priests should be permitted to bless same-sex and “irregular” couples, under certain circumstances, however, the Vatican said blessings should not be part of regular Church rituals or related to civil unions or weddings. It added that it continues to view marriage as between a man and a woman.
Pope Francis approved a document issued by the Vatican announcing the change on Monday, December 18, 2023. The Vatican said it should be a sign that “God welcomes all”, but the document says priests must decide on a case-by-case basis.
Introducing the text, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Church, said that the new declaration remained “firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage”.
He, however, added that in keeping with the Pope’s “pastoral vision” of “broadening” the appeal of the Catholic Church, the new guidelines would allow priests to bless relationships still considered sinful.
People receiving a blessing “should not be required to have prior moral perfection”, according to the declaration.
In the Catholic Church, a blessing is a prayer or plea, usually delivered by a minister, asking for God to look favourably on the person or people being blessed. Cardinal Fernández emphasised that the new stance does not validate the status of same-sex couples in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
Meanwhile, Newsone Nigeria reports that the latest ruling fleshes out the opening the pope made to blessing same-sex couples last October and marks a shift away from a 2021 ruling from the Vatican doctrine office which barred any blessings saying God “cannot bless sin.”
But since July 2023, the doctrine department has been led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, an Argentinian prelate and ally of Francis, who has stuck a different tone to his predecessors.
“When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,” the declaration, authored by Cardinal Fernandez and another official, states. “The grace of God works in the lives of those who do not claim to be righteous but who acknowledge themselves humbly as sinners, like everyone else.”
The new ruling says it is opening “the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex” although says it is leaving decisions to “the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers.”
James Martin, a Jesuit priest who ministers to gay Catholics, described the latest move as a “major step forward in the church’s ministry to LGBTQ people,” writing on X that it “recognizes the deep desire in many Catholic same-sex couples for God’s presence in their loving relationships.”