The Vatican has announced that it will authorize the blessing of homosexual couples. On the other hand, she confirmed her positions against the marriage of same-sex couples.
This is a great first in its history; the Catholic Church authorizes blessings for homosexual couples. An announcement made in an official document entitled “Fiducia supplicans” published on Monday December 18, 2023, signed by the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mgr Victor Manuel Fernandez. A decision approved by Pope Francis himself.
Please note, this blessing must be held outside the framework of the Catholic liturgy, in other words, outside of masses. “It is possible to bless couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples”, but this blessing “will never be performed at the same time as the civil rites of union, nor even in connection with them”, we can read in the text. A way for the Church “not to create confusion with the blessing specific to the sacrament of marriage”.
The Church takes a step towards the LGBT community…
Indeed, no ritual can surround the blessing of gay couples. The text insists on this notion so as not to create any ambiguity. The blessing consists of “a simple gesture which constitutes an effective means of increasing the trust in God of those who request it, avoiding it becoming a liturgical or semi-liturgical act, similar to a sacrament”.
No gesture, clothing or word related to marriage may accompany the blessing. The priest in charge of the blessing will be able to ask for “peace, health, a spirit of patience, dialogue and mutual aid” for those concerned. Responsibility will fall to him for the process to adopt when such a situation arises. “It is therefore not appropriate for a diocese, a conference of bishops or any other body to put in place procedures or rules” indicates Mgr Fernandez.
…but remains firm on marriage
This decision can serve as a first shift in favor of a Church “open to all” as Pope Francis regularly reminds us. “If a person is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge him?” he declared in 2013. So, this decision in favor of homosexual couples makes all the more sense. However, some voices were raised against the governance of the Argentine pope. Five conservative cardinals had publicly asked Pope Francis to reform Catholic doctrine on gay couples last October.
The blessing of homosexual couples should not, however, open the door to the recognition of religious marriage for these same couples. In 2021, the Vatican reaffirmed that it considers homosexuality to be a sin and de facto, its incompatibility with the sacrament of marriage. “Rites and prayers which could create confusion between what constitutes marriage, namely an exclusive, stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children, and what contradicts it are inadmissible. ” recalled Mgr Fernandez in the document “Fiducia Supplicans”.