If same-sex couples go to their priest looking for a blessing, Pope Francis is cool with it. This news comes via a new document approving 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 in October. In that response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered if they didn't confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage. The new document elaborates on that, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman and stressing the blessings in question must be nonliturgical in nature and shouldn't 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 as the AP reports, the document says requests for such blessings for same-sex couples shouldn't be denied full stop. It offers an extensive and broad definition of the term "blessing" in Scripture. "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 openness to the transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live." Francis added: "It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered." The Vatican has long opposed same-sex marriage.
In 2021, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat out that the church couldn't bless same-sex unions because "God cannot bless sin." That document created an outcry, one it appeared even Francis was blindsided by, even though he'd technically approved its publication. Soon after it was published, he removed the official responsible 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, especially when they lead to a narcissistic and authoritarian 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—gay or straight—are in a state of sin. But it said that shouldn't deprive them of God's love or mercy.
story continues below
The Rev. James Martin, who advocates for a greater welcome for LGBTQ+ Catholics, praised the new document as a "major step forward in the church's ministry" 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 in their loving relationships," he tells the New York Times. He adds, per the AP: "Along with many Catholic priests, I will now be delighted to bless my friends in same-sex marriages." (More Pope Francis stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
