Pope Francis allows priests to bless same-sex couples | World News

Pope Francis has allowed priests to bless couples in same-sex relationships in remarks certain to further his vision for a more inclusive church.

Priests can bless anything – from chalk and gold to basil and boats – and see the ordained minister offer a prayer to God asking for favour.

Whether same-sex couples should be afforded such divine protection has long been met with raised eyebrows and firm noes from the Vatican.

But in a new document released by the Roman Catholic Church today, the pontiff, 86, outlined a major shift in Vatican policy with a rather simple message.

No person seeking God’s love and mercy should be subject to an ‘exhaustive moral analysis’ to receive it.

The rule, published by the Vatican’s doctrine office, known as the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, was introduced by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.

The prefect details Pope Francis’ response to concerns voiced by two conservative cardinals published in October, around the same time he first hinted queer couples could be blessed.

Cardinal Fernández said the declaration, signed and approved by Pope Francis, does not tweak ‘the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage’ but seeks to ‘broaden’ the church’s understanding of what a blessing can be.

Such blessings can be done on same-sex and so-called ‘irregular’ couples as long as they don’t ‘confuse’ the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.

‘It is precisely in this context that one can understand the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage,’ Cardinal Fernández said.

The church official insisted that blessings should not be given at the same time as a civil union, a legal arrangement that typically confers most of the benefits and protections of marriage.

Neither should blessings be bestowed using set rituals or even with clothing and gestures too similar to weddings.

Nevertheless, Cardinal Fernández said that ensuring more people than ever before can receive blessings amounted to a ‘real development’ and a ‘specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings’.

‘Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,’ he added.

‘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.’

Marriage, the Vatican says, is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. Marriage equality is, for now at least, out of the question.

Only two years ago, the Vatican’s doctrine office came down hard against the blessing of queer unions, saying ’God cannot bless sin’.

While it seems the Vatican hasn’t quite budged on saying same-sex attraction isn’t a sin, as today’s document stresses, this shouldn’t deprive people of God’s love.

‘Thus, when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,’ Cardinal Fernández added.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, though a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, has made steps in recent years to make LGBTQ+ Catholics feel welcome by breaking with his more conservative predecessors.

Pope Francis has, among other things, made clear that trans people can be baptised and serve as godparents and that laws criminalising homosexuality are ‘unjust’.

To Jayne Ozanne, a key advocate for LGBTQ+ rights in the church and a former member of the Church of England’s General Synod, today’s announcement isn’t that surprising.

‘This is a very welcome and significant move by Pope Francis, which is completely consistent with his previous calls for the Catholic Church to respond pastorally to real people’s lives,’ the British evangelical Anglican tells Metro.co.uk.

‘I also think it is very interesting that this announcement comes so quickly on the heels of the decision by the Church of England to offer similar blessings to individuals in same-sex relationships, rather than on the relationship itself – thus sidestepping the Gordian Knot of whether gay sex is a sin or not.’

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