Pope OKs blessings for same-sex couples if the rituals don't resemble marriage

Long Island Catholics were divided Monday over Pope Francis’ move allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with some hailing it as a bold step forward and others contending he is sowing confusion.

The document released by the Vatican’s doctrine office does not allow priests to officiate at marriages of gay couples. But it does allow them to “bless” the couples if they don’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.

Pro-gay rights Catholics described it as a potentially historic move toward eventually reversing the church’s stance that same-sex relationships — when acted on — are “intrinsically disordered.”

“This is significant progress that I did not expect,” said Jamie Manson, a lesbian Catholic from Long Beach who heads the nonprofit Catholics for Choice in Washington, D.C.

“What makes it significant in particular is the fact that it is actually being codified,” she said. “It’s not just Francis talking to the press or making a provocative statement at a press conference.”

Professor Julie Byrne, chairwoman of Hofstra University's Department of Religion, said she, too, was surprised.

“It is several more steps than I thought he would go,” she said. “I think it’s amazing for LGBTIQ Catholics and their families and allies to have this affirmation. He could have just kept talking about it. But this is an actual concrete step for blessing same-sex unions. It’s really big.”

Others said the pope was confusing Catholics, as he engages in what they called a systematic attack on church orthodoxy and teachings.

“The Holy Father has caused a lot of confusion within the Catholic Church. So here he goes again,” said Connell Friel, president of the Miller Place-based nonprofit American Family Advocates.

The pope “is deviating from long-standing church teaching,” Friel said. “Any Catholic who has adhered to normal church teaching has a problem with what he has been doing.”

Some gay advocacy groups contended the pontiff was not going far enough.

"While some may see this as a positive step by the pope, it still relegates LGBT couples to second-class citizenship within the Catholic Church,” said David Kilmnick, president of the Hauppauge-based LGBT Network.

The pope’s actions mean “LGBT people shouldn't be afforded the same recognition and visibility as opposite gender couples, which means that we are not only separate but also unequal,” he said.

The document 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 rationale and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings 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 should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive 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 Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed same-sex marriage.

As recently as 2021, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the church couldn’t bless the unions of two men or two women because “God cannot bless sin.”

Manson said the document is a start toward changing that in part because of language about not requiring “moral perfection” and the lack of mention of a celibacy requirement.

“It’s a first step away from the official teaching, which was that it’s not disordered to be gay but to act on one’s homosexual desires would be the actual sin,” she said. “It’s a first step away from a very stigmatizing doctrine.”

Rick Hinshaw, a former editor of The Long Island Catholic, said that if same-sex couples were seeking “grace” the church already has the sacrament of reconciliation for that.

“The church needs to encourage us to strive to turn away from our sinfulness and I don’t think that this document — opening the door to these blessings of what the church still teaches is a sinful relationship — is going to be helpful,” he said.

With AP