Vatican announcement on same-sex blessings pushes boundaries

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Pope Francis, leader of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, announced this week that priests are now allowed to bless the relationships of same-sex couples and others in what the church refers to as "irregular situations," a change expected to generate mixed reactions among the religion's widespread and diverse communities.

The announcement, in the form of a papal declaration titled "Fiducia Supplicans on the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings," appears to overturn a 2021 ruling issued by the same office of the Vatican, which found that such blessings were impermissible because the church "cannot bless sin."