Welcome Change: Vatican’s Move to Bless Same-Sex Couples a Sign of Inclusivity Push by Pontiff

Catholic priests are now officially allowed to bless same-sex couples according to a Vatican declaration approved by Pope Francis. Such blessings, however, the document stressed, are not to be confused with same-sex union or civil partner blessings, as the Catholic church maintains its stance that marriage is a life-long sacrament between a man and a woman.

The move is widely seen as a pivot by the Catholic church to be more inclusive by allowing gender and sexual minorities fuller participation in the church. This  comes two years after the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a blanket rejection of the church possibly endorsing same-sex unions, stating “God cannot bless sin.” After an outcry following the publication of the pronouncement, the official responsible for it was removed.

According to the new document, “doctrinal or disciplinary schemes especially when they lead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others” must be avoided, discouraging the need for “moral perfection” for the conferring of blessings upon LGBTQIA+ Catholics. “Even when a person’s relationship with God is clouded by sin, he can always ask for a blessing, stretching out his hand to God,” the document further said.

The pronouncement comes barely a month after the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a statement endorsing Transgender people’s ability to be godparents at Catholic baptisms, reversing a Vatican doctrine issued in 2015 that prescribed an absolute ban on the same. Trans individuals, according to the new doctrine, are also allowed to be witnesses at religious weddings and are able to personally receive the sacrament of baptism.

The move was well-received among LGBT rights advocates and Catholic Trans people. “We transgenders here in Italy feel a bit more human because the fact that Pope Francis brings us closer to the Church is a beautiful thing,” Carla Segovia, a 46-year-old Trans sex worker said, after she was granted an audience with the pontiff, Reuters reported.

 History of Inclusion

Pope Francis has had a long history of being more welcoming to gender and sexual minorities, even before his papacy.  Only a few months after ascending to the papacy in 2013, in response to news of a Gay priest he said, “Who am I to judge.” As an alternative to endorsing same-sex unions, Pope Francis, while the Archbishop of Buenos Aries, proposed granting legal protections to same-sex couples.

Unlike his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI who declined to sign a UN declaration calling for an end to anti-Gay laws on the books worldwide, in January 2023, Pope Francis strongly denounced laws that criminalize homosexuality and called for their elimination. In an interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis stated: “Being homosexual isn’t a crime.”

The Pope’s latest pronouncements are an expansion of a letter sent in response to a challenge brought by five conservative cardinals for Pope Francis to affirm church teachings on Homosexuality ahead of the Vatican’s 2023 synod, at which LGBTQIA+ Catholics would be on the agenda. It was also reported that Pope Francis hand-picked delegate Rev. James Martin, a US-based Jesuit priest who is a prominent advocate for greater LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the church.

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Despite the advanced agenda of the synod specifying that LGBTQIA+ issues would be discussed, a summary of the three-week high-level meeting that brought together hundreds of bishops and lay people from around the world to discuss the future of the church revealed not a single mention of LGBTQIA+ people. The absence is seen as the overwhelming influence of conservative factions of the church who oppose Pope Francis’ more inclusive and welcoming stance toward gender and sexual minorities.

The move by the Vatican is in line with a growing trend of inclusivity among priests and parishes worldwide, especially in Europe and North America. In September, for instance, several catholic priests held a ceremony to bless same-sex couples outside of Cologne cathedral in protest of the city’s conservative archbishop. Germany also has a history of individual priests blessing same-sex couples, in line with a progressive trend in the German church.

Across the border in Belgium, in 2022, Flemish-speaking Bishops published a proposed text for a prayer liturgy for same-sex couples that includes prayers, scripture readings, and expression of commitment, going against a 2021 Vatican directive barring the blessing of same-sex couples. Tommy Scholtes, spokesman of Belgium’s bishop conference said that the move was intended to create a “point of contact” for diocese in charge of pastoral care for Gays, through which “an opportunity for homosexual couples to pray together, and others will also be able to pray for them” will be created.

Foreseeable Opposition

More conservative factions of the Catholic church have dismissed Pope Francis’ move as no more than an affirmation of the church’s stance on the sanctity of marriage while Catholic bishops from around the world, especially in Africa, came out strongly against the Vatican’s new policy. Zambia and Malawi’s bishop conferences both rejected the possibility of conferring blessings on same-sex couples with the former stating that such blessings were “not for implementation in Zambia” while the latter stated “blessings of any kind” for “same-sex unions of any kind” would not be permitted.

Both countries’ anti-gay legislation holds stiff penalties for the offense, with Zambia’s law not only including Homosexuality in the same section as bestiality but also proposes a 15-year sentence to life imprisonment. Malawi proposes 14 years’ imprisonment for Homosexual sex with the option of corporal punishment for those found guilty.

Many more bishop conferences from across Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, and South Africa released public statements to the effect that the new doctrine was confusing to congregations and wanted clarity on whether the new policy was a recognition and endorsement of same-sex relationships.

“The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria assures the entire People of God that the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage remains the same,” read the statement from the Nigerian bishop conference, further adding: “There is, therefore, no possibility in the Church of blessing same-sex unions and activities.” Despite this widespread opposition from bishops across Africa, the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference welcomed the decision.

Such pushback from African Catholic church leaders is to be expected. Similar opposition was witnessed among Anglican priests when Gene Robinson, who was openly Gay, was elected as the ninth Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire by the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA), leading to several African diocese breaking away from the Anglican church’s international conference.

The Polish bishop conference also stated it had no plans to bless same-sex couples, asserting that marriage is between a man and a woman and calling unions outside of that configuration “offensive against God’s will,” according to a statement by spokesman Rev. Leszek Gęsiak. Kazakh  Bishop Athanasius Schneider called the new policy a “great deception,” warning priests in the country to be aware of “the evil that resides in the very permission to bless couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.”

While the move has elicited mixed reactions from the 1.3-billion-strong faithful around the world and their leaders, some see the Vatican’s latest move as a step in the right direction. “The significance of this news cannot be overstated,” said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry. DeBernardo’s sentiments were echoed by Rev. James Martin, who said “Along with many Catholic priests, I will now be delighted to bless my friends in same-sex marriages,” in an email to the Associated Press.

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