A major turning point for the LGBTQ+ community in the Roman Catholic Church has been reached with Pope Francis’s approval of priests blessing same-sex marriages.
According to the BBC, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church said that priests should occasionally be permitted to bless same-sex and “irregular” couples.
Blessings, the Vatican has emphasized, should neither be connected to marriage or civil unions, nor should they be a part of regular Church celebrations.
It went on to say that it still sees marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
A Vatican document outlining the move was approved by Pope Francis on Monday.
Although the document itself states that priests must make decisions on a case-by-case basis, the Vatican said it should be a sign that “God welcomes all.”
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Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Church, while introducing the text, made it clear that the revised position does not confer official recognition to same-sex couples within the Catholic Church.
The statement is a change in voice, but it doesn’t change its position. The Pope had stated in 2021 that priests are not allowed to bless same-sex unions because to the idea that God is unable to “bless sin.”
In the Catholic Church, a blessing is an invocation or prayer, usually delivered by a minister, asking God to provide favor to the person or people receiving the blessing.
Pope Francis made a suggestion in October that he would be open to the Church blessing same-sex marriages.
The BBC said that although Church officials’ stance was still unknown, bishops in a number of nations had previously approved priests to officiate same-sex unions.
