Vatican Approves Blessings for Same-Sex Couples

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Vatican said on Monday, Dec. 18, as reported by Reuters, in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies.

A document from the Vatican's doctrinal office, which effectively reversed a declaration the same body had issued in 2021, said such blessings would not legitimize irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all.

It should in no way be confused with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage, it added.

The ruling said that priests should decide on a case-by-case basis and "should not prevent or prohibit the Church's closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God's help through a simple blessing".

Since his election in 2013, Francis has tried to make the more than 1.35-billion-member Church more welcoming to LGBT people without changing moral doctrine.

Father James Martin, a prominent American Jesuit priest who ministers to the LGBT community, called the document "a major step forward in the church's ministry" to them.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a group that advocates for LGBT rights in the Church, said the document's importance "cannot be overstated". He praised the document's wording that people seeking blessings should not be subjected to "an exhaustive moral analysis".

It should be noted that Monday's ruling is bound to be opposed by conservatives, who already criticized the pope when he made his initial comments on the subject in October.

Ulrich L. Lehner, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in the US, said the new guidance from the doctrinal office "invites misunderstanding and will sow confusion".

The document, whose Latin title is Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust), said the form of the blessing "should not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage".

"Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God," it said, adding that it "must be nurtured, not hindered".

The document said the blessing should not be linked to or timed with a civil marriage ceremony and be performed with none of the "clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding".

The ruling was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the head of the head of Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and approved by the pope in a private audience with Fernandez and another doctrinal office official on Monday.

REUTERS

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