Pope Francis on Monday approved letting priests bless same-sex couples, sparking criticism from conservative Catholics and praise from the LGBTQ community.
Such blessings would not rise to the level of church-sanctioned same-sex marriages, the Vatican cautioned, but would offer gay Catholics the opportunity to seek God’s mercy without being subjected to “an exhaustive moral analysis.”
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the declaration, “Fiducia supplicans,” with the pope’s approval but not his signature less than three months after a papal letter said such blessings were possible so long as they “do not transmit a wrong conception of marriage.”
The question of how same-sex couples should be treated within the Catholic faith has become increasingly prominent. Bishops and priests in Germany have taken steps to bless same-sex couples without Vatican approval.
Such moves prompted a “dubia,” or official letter of question to the pope, from five cardinals. The dubia received the October response.
Ryan Di Corpo, managing editor of the Outreach.faith website, which says it is an “LGBTQ Catholic resource,” said the declaration “is a tremendous step forward in the church’s relationship with LGBTQ Catholics.”
“For the first time, the Vatican has now sanctioned priests, deacons and church ministers [as] being able to bless same-sex [couples],” he said, a move “very different from what has come before.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an affirming group in Mount Rainier, Maryland, said in a statement, “Pope Francis gave LGBTQ+ Catholics an early Christmas gift this year by approving blessings for same-gender couples. The Vatican doctrinal office’s previous claim that ‘God does not bless sin’ has been uprooted by the new exhortation, ‘God never turns away anyone who approaches him!’”
Gay rights groups cheered the news, but Dawn Eden Goldstein, a Catholic theologian who holds a licensure in canon law, advised that church members should read the Vatican’s pronouncement carefully.
She said Catholics “should be careful to avoid distortions in the media, either from the left or from the right. People on both the left and the right are very eager to push a liberal pope narrative, [that the] pope is changing doctrine. The only doctrine that’s changing here is the doctrine of what is the bar for a blessing. It’s not the doctrine of ‘what is marriage.’”
Catholic writer John Zmirak said the Vatican’s move is unfavorable for the 1.3-billion-member church.
“Pope Francis has thrown the institution of the papacy itself into the deepest doubt for serious Catholics,” said Mr. Zmirak, a senior editor of The Stream. “Francis is approving blessings for same-sex couples that will in practice amount to gay Catholic weddings. Count on U.S. courts to fine priests unwilling to offer fabulous ceremonies for well-heeled, litigious gay couples.
“Every Catholic pastor now faces the fate of those Christian wedding planners and bakers who were targeted by lawsuits. Litigants will win big settlements from hapless, faithful pastors, by citing Pope Francis’ document. Whatever is left of the papacy when Francis goes to his rich, rich reward will be quite unrecognizable to most of us. But God knows what He’s doing, we have to trust.”
Larry Chapp, a contributor to the National Catholic Register newspaper and author of “Confession of a Catholic Worker,” said the Vatican’s attempt to draw distinctions between types of blessings won’t deceive the lay member in the pews.
“Who are we kidding here?” Mr. Chapp asked. “In the cultural context, this is clearly going to be seen as greenlighting the blessing of same-sex couples precisely as same-sex couples, or any couple that’s just cohabitating outside of marriage who comes forward for a blessing or something.”
The Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were quick to point out that the blessings approved Monday were pastoral and not liturgical or sacramental.
Chieko Noguchi, the conference’s executive director of public affairs, said a pastoral blessing “may be given to persons who desire God’s loving grace in their lives.”
“The church’s teaching on marriage has not changed,” she said, “and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives.”
Individual bishops and cardinals were reluctant to speak publicly in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.
A spokesman for Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said the usually voluble leader had no comment. Washington Archdiocese Cardinal Wilton Gregory’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge’s spokesman said the head of the Arlington, Virginia, diocese will address the declaration on his Tuesday podcast.
According to the declaration, the blessings now approved by the Vatican should not be connected to a civil union ceremony. The document states that such a blessing cannot use clothing, gestures or words that resemble a wedding ceremony.
Instead, the blessings can be made during a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a group prayer or a pilgrimage.
“There is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better,” the document said.
The blessings can be imparted to those who see themselves as “destitute and in need of [God’s] help.”
Mr. Di Corpo acknowledged that the policy change won’t be universally accepted.
“I have already seen online from a couple of different sources, mostly people on social media who are either confused by the document or upset by it,” he said.
Eric Sammons, editor of Crisis Magazine, which says it is an online publication for “faithful Catholic laity,” decried the move as “creating scandal and confusion.”
Via email, he said, “It tries to create an artificial divide between what Catholics believe and how they live, pretending that blessing same-sex couples will remain distinct in the minds of the ordinary Catholics from sacramental marriages. The practical effect is that more and more Catholics will continue to lose faith in the Church, as its leaders seem desperate to find acceptance from the world instead of from the Lord.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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