Vatican announcement on same-sex blessings pushes boundaries

Same-sex couples take part in a public blessing ceremony in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023. [AP Photo]

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."

The declaration makes clear that the church's teaching that same-sex and other nontraditional relationships are barred from the sacrament of marriage is unchanged. The blessing of nontraditional relationships, the document says, does not rise to the level of what the church considers a sacrament, must be kept completely distinct from marriage ceremonies and cannot be considered a replacement for or alternative to the sacrament of marriage.

The church has long taught that sexual relations between people of the same sex are inherently sinful and should be avoided, and Monday's declaration does not alter that stance. However, it calls upon Catholics to exercise "pastoral charity" in their treatment of Catholics in relationships the church does not otherwise condone.

The declaration says that the change "implies a real development" in the church's thinking, offering "a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings" based on "the pastoral vision of Pope Francis."

Pushing boundaries

Francis, who was born in Argentina and is the first pope from the Americas and the first from the Global South, has been slowly expanding the church's acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. In 2013, the year in which he was elected pope, he surprised many Catholics by appearing to allow the possibility that men who are sexually attracted to other men could serve as priests.

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said in a conversation with reporters. Regardless of sexual orientation, the Roman Catholic Church requires priests to take a vow of celibacy.

Francis has been the subject of harsh criticism from some Catholic leaders who take a more conservative stance on matters of sexuality and adherence to long-standing church doctrine more generally.

The pope recently made the news by firing Bishop Joseph Strickland, a Texas cleric who called it a "travesty" that Francis has been willing to entertain the possibility of reconsidering other church teachings, such as the ban on priests marrying, the ordination of women as deacons and the church's treatment of LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Mixed reception

The Roman Catholic Church has congregations in nearly every country in the world, and even though it has historically operated under a rigid ideological hierarchy when it comes to official doctrine, it still has considerable diversity of opinion within its ranks on issues like same-sex relationships.

William T. Cavanaugh, director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University, told VOA that the reaction to the announcement from Catholics around the world is likely to be mixed. While no region's Catholic population is monolithic, he said, it is possible to discuss general tendencies.

"In general, you find rank-and-file Catholics supportive of homosexuality in general, and same-sex relationships more specifically in Western Europe, the U.S. and Canada ...and in certain places in Asia, like the Philippines," he said.

Cavanaugh said some parts of Latin America, particularly Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, also have large percentages of Catholics who accept same-sex relationships.

"Africa is the big outlier," Cavanaugh said. "In a lot of African countries, homosexuality in general is frowned upon, and I think you'd find Catholic opinion pretty close to that norm in most sub-Saharan African countries."

Cavanaugh stressed that there can be broad differences of opinion within individual countries. While most Catholics in the United States tell pollsters they generally favor same-sex marriage, there remains a large and vocal minority that takes a more traditional and conservative view of the matter.

LGBTQ voices being heard

Monday's announcement was greeted with approval by individuals and organizations that have been pushing the church - in some cases for decades - to be more accepting of people in nontraditional relationships.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a group dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ Catholics, said she was gratified to see the church shift gears on the issue, noting that the 2021 announcement upset many Catholics around the world.

"For the Vatican to so totally reverse itself in less than three years is just such a quick response to something that produced a global outcry for being seen as cruel and pastorally insensitive and harmful to people's ministry on the ground," she told VOA.

"I think that it really signifies that voices of LGBTQ+ people and our family members were heard and responded to at the Vatican."

Duddy-Burke is also co-chair of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, a coalition of organizations supporting LGBTQ+ Catholics with 45 member groups across six continents. She said that since the announcement, she has been receiving messages from members around the world celebrating the shift, particularly in countries where official resistance to acceptance of same-sex relationships remains high.

"In areas of the world - Eastern Europe, Africa, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean - where Catholic leaders both political and religious continue to push for criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and relationships, having statements that say these relationships can be blessed is very significant in terms of giving hope to people," she said.