Pope Francis authorizes blessings of same sex couple
Pope Francis has approved the possibility to bless same-sex couples but without any type of ritualization or offering the impression of a marriage, Vatican news has said.
He authorized this on this Monday December 18, 2023.
With the Declaration called “Fiducia supplicans” issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, this applies when two people request a blessing, even if their situation as a couple is “irregular,” it will be possible for the ordained minister to consent. However, this gesture of pastoral closeness must avoid any elements that remotely resemble a marriage rite.
Vatican news states that is a reflection that “implies a real development from what has been said about blessings up until now, reaching an understanding of 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.”
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis is reported by abcNews to have said that; “By removing barriers to priests blessing LGBTQ couples, the Pope accurately recognizes that LGBTQ people and our relationships are worthy of the same affirmation and support in the Church, and this strengthens couples in their faith and to the community,”. He further said “This is the latest in a historic pattern of actions and announcements from Pope Francis which show that LGBTQ people should not be used as a dividing issue, and we are worthy of love, respect and compassion”.
Going by the Vatican news, other preceding paragraphs analyzes the meaning of different blessings, whose recipients are people, objects of worship, and places of life. It is recalled that “from a strictly liturgical point of view,” the blessing requires that what is blessed “be conformed to God’s will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church.”
“Blessings should be evaluated as acts of devotion.” Those requesting a blessing “should not be required to have prior moral perfection” as a precondition, the Declaration notes.
The Declaration is said to affirm that this kind of blessing “is offered to all without requiring anything,” helping people feel that they are still blessed despite their mistakes and that “their heavenly Father continues to will their good and to hope that they will ultimately open themselves to the good”.
Also clarified is that to avoid “any form of confusion or scandal,” that when a couple in an irregular situation or same-sex couples ask for a blessing, it “should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them.
