ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has officially approved allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, the Vatican announced Monday. This is a radical policy shift aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage.
But while the Vatican statement was hailed by some as a step toward reducing discrimination in the Catholic Church, some LGBTQ+ advocates warned that it underscored the church's idea that gay couples remain inferior to heterosexual unions.
The document from the Vatican's Doctrine Office is based on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was made public in October. In this preliminary response, Francis suggested that such blessings could be offered in certain circumstances if the blessings were not confused with the ritual of marriage.
The new document reiterates and elaborates on this condition by affirming that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. And it is emphasized that the blessings in question must not be tied to a specific Catholic celebration or service and should not be given at the same time as a civil wedding. In addition, the blessings may not rely on set rituals or even include the clothing and gestures that are part of a wedding.
However, it is said that requests for such a blessing for same-sex couples should not be refused. It provides a detailed and broad definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people who seek a transcendent relationship with God and seek his love and mercy should not be held to an impossible moral standard in order to achieve him to recieve.
“For those who seek a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection,” it said.
“The intention is not to legitimize anything, but rather to open life to God, to ask for his help for a better life and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel can be lived with greater fidelity,” it says it added.
The document is the latest gesture from a pope who has made welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy. From his 2013 joke, “Who am I to judge?” about an alleged gay priest, to his 2023 comment to The Associated Press that “being gay is not a crime,” Francis has dealt with his Welcome message distinguished from all its predecessors.
“The importance of this message cannot be overstated,” said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which supports LGBTQ+ Catholics. “It is one thing to officially authorize same-sex blessings, which he had already pastorally permitted, but to say that people should not undergo “exhaustive moral analysis” in order to receive God’s love and mercy is an even more significant step.”
The Vatican believes that marriage is an indissoluble bond between a man and a woman. For this reason, she has long opposed same-sex marriage and views homosexual acts as “inherently disordered.” This teaching does not change in the new document.
And in 2021, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith flatly stated that the church cannot bless the unions of two men or two women because “God cannot bless sin.”
That 2021 statement sparked an outcry and appeared to have caught Francis by surprise, even though he technically approved its release. Shortly after publication, he fired the official responsible and set about laying the foundation for a turnaround.
In the new document, the Vatican said the church must “avoid doctrinal or disciplinary schemes, especially when they lead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism in which one analyzes and classifies others rather than evangelizing.”
Ultimately, a blessing is about helping people increase their trust in God. “It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be encouraged and not hindered,” it said.
It emphasized that people in “irregular” extramarital relationships – whether homosexual or heterosexual – are in a state of sin. But it was said that this should not deprive them of God's love or mercy. “Even if a person’s relationship with God is marred by sin, he can always ask for a blessing and reach out to God,” the document says.
“So when people ask for a blessing, a comprehensive moral analysis should not be used as a prerequisite for granting the blessing,” the document says.
Rev. James Martin, who advocates for greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics, praised the new document as a “major step forward” and a “dramatic shift” from the Vatican’s 2021 policy.
“Along with many Catholic priests, I will now rejoice in blessing my friends in same-sex marriages,” he said in an email.
However, traditionalists were outraged. Traditionalist blogger Luigi Casalini of the blog Messa in Latino (Latin Mass) wrote that the document appears to be a form of heresy.
“The church is falling apart,” he wrote.
University of Notre Dame theologian Ulrich Lehner was also concerned, saying it would only cause confusion and lead to division in the church.
“The Vatican statement is, in my opinion, the most unfortunate public announcement in decades,” he said in a statement. “Furthermore, some bishops will use it as an excuse to do what the document expressly prohibits, especially because the Vatican has not previously prevented them from doing so. It is – and I hate to say it – an invitation to division.”
Ramón Gómez, human rights officer for the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation group in Chile, said the statement was a step toward reducing discrimination in the church and could help LGBTQ+ people in countries where self-registered civil partnerships are not legal.
But he said the document was “belated” and “contradictory” because it describes a non-ritualized blessing that cannot be confused with marriage. Such a mixed message, he said, “thus once again sends the signal that same-sex couples are inferior to heterosexual couples.”
The Vatican's admonition not to codify blessings or prayers appeared to be a response to Flemish-speaking bishops in Belgium who last year proposed the text for a prayer for same-sex couples that included prayers, Bible readings and expressions of commitment.
In Germany, individual priests have been blessing same-sex couples for years, as part of a progressive trend in the German church. In September, several Catholic priests held a ceremony to bless same-sex couples in front of Cologne Cathedral to protest against the city's conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.
The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference welcomed the document.
“This means that a blessing can be given to couples who, for example due to a divorce, do not have the opportunity to have a church wedding, as well as to same-sex couples,” said Bishop Georg Baetzing in a statement. “The practice of the church knows a variety of forms of blessing. It’s good that this treasure for the diversity of lifestyles is now being highlighted.”
In the United States, the Rev. John Oesterle, a Catholic priest and hospital chaplain in Pittsburgh, said many priests would probably not be willing to give such a blessing, but he welcomed Francis' action.
“I think the pope has learned to accept people as God created them,” he said Monday. “When I was growing up, it was assumed that God made everyone righteous. What we have learned is that this is not true. If Pope Francis accepts people as God created them, and if the most important teaching of Jesus is that we should love and serve one another in community, then in my opinion that gives Pope Francis openness to the presence of God these relationships.”
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Crary reported from New York. Patricia Luna in Santiago, Chile; Peter B. Smith in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed.