Pope Francis declared on Monday that priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples.
The announcement marks a significant milestone in the efforts to make the Catholic Church more welcoming towards the LGBTQ community.
A church official called the change in Vatican policy “a real development” that did not alter “the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage.”
Francis' formal approval states that those seeking God's love should not have to endure “an exhaustive moral analysis.”
As ABC News reports:
The document from the Vatican's doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn't confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.
The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings in question must be non-liturgical in nature and 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.
But it says requests for such blessings for same-sex couples should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive and broad 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 document states that a blessing provides individuals with a way to enhance their faith in God. By requesting a blessing, one “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.”
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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