Pope clears the way for blessings of same-sex couples
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Two months after the pope’s openness to allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples was made public, Pope Francis has made this change official in a document released by the Vatican on Monday.
The document, which is focused on “couples in irregular situations and ... couples of the same sex,” says that such couples seeking to access God’s love and mercy shouldn’t have to overcome obstacles put in front of them by the church, according to The Associated Press.
“It offers an extensive 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,” the article said.
But the document does not change the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage, which it defines as a permanent union between one man and one woman. It affirms that couples in “irregular” relationships, whether gay or straight, are living in a state of sin.
The blessings over same-sex couples are to be clearly differentiated from the sacrament of marriage, it says, and are not to happen during a wedding ceremony, the document says.
“(The document) stresses that blessings 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,” The Associated Press reported.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic emphasized the distinction between blessing same-sex couples and wedding same-sex couples in its statement on the new document.
“The Declaration issued today by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) articulated a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings, and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God’s loving grace in their lives. The Church’s teaching on marriage has not changed, and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives,” the statement said.
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The new policy is surprising, but it fits Pope Francis’ effort to help draw people closer to God even as he works to defend established church policy. In the context of the same-sex marriage debate, he’s repeatedly emphasized the need for Catholic leaders to be charitable and to be open to new ways to share God’s love with others, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“We cannot be judges who only deny, push back and exclude,” Pope Francis wrote in a letter that was made public in October. “As such, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not convey a wrong idea of a matrimony. Because when one seeks a blessing, one is requesting help from God.”
