Pope Francis has approved a declaration from the Vatican permitting Catholic priests to bless same-sex and ‘irregular’ couples. The Pope gave his approval on Monday, December 18, 2023.
The Vatican says the move has been made to emulate God, who welcomes everyone.
The Vatican says the move has been made to emulate God, who welcomes everyone. However, the Vatican maintained the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage: same-sex couples may be blessed, but not as part of regular Church rituals or civil unions.
According to the declaration, same-sex couples should not be subjected to moral analysis as a precondition to be conferred upon with a blessing.
“When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,” the declaration reads in part.
According to the declaration, the blessing can be done by ordained ministers, and they “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.”
The declaration also states that a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God, and a request for it expresses and nurtures openness to transcendence, mercy, and closeness to God.
“A blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. The request for a blessing thus expresses and nurtures openness to 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,” part of the document reads.
Pope Francis’s approval comes as a reaffirmation of his position about same-sex couples. The Pope has said on several occasions that he has no right to judge same-sex couples because they were all created in God’s image.
