By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
VATICAN CITY (Worthy News) – In a controversial move upsetting conservative clergy, Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples.
A new document explains a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking “God’s love and mercy” shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it, despite the Bible viewing marriage as between a man and a woman.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, 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 stresses that to avoid “any form of confusion or scandal,” blessings given to a couple “in an irregular situation” or “same-sex couples“ must be non-liturgical in nature. And, they 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, it added.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, 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.
He reaffirmed earlier this year that homosexuality “is not a crime” but that any sexual act outside of marriage is “a sin.”
“UNJUST LAWS”
Francis defined it as “unjust” laws that criminalize homosexuality or homosexual activity and urged church members, including bishops, to show “tenderness” as God does with each of his children.
“We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity. Being homosexual is not a crime. It is not a crime.”
However, “Yes, but it is a sin. Fine, but first let us distinguish between a sin and a crime. It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added in published remarks.
The decision to bless same-sex couples is the latest in a series of controversial moves blessed by the pope.
The Vatican recently said that transgender people can be baptized in the Catholic Church after the pope already reached out to other members of the LGBTQ+ community, which uses the rainbow as its logo.
“A transgender person, even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful, if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful,” a Vatican office said.
The document was a response to six questions that Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro in Brazil sent to the Vatican in July regarding LGBTQ+ people’s involvement in routine Catholic practices and released by the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith.
The document said Pope Francis had approved it on October 31.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The Trump administration has finalized a sweeping reciprocal trade agreement with Taiwan, confirming a 15 percent U.S. tariff rate on Taiwanese imports while securing broad new market access and purchase commitments for American goods.
Democrats are applauding White House border czar Tom Homan’s Thursday announcement that immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota will end next week.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate tanked the Homeland Security full-year funding bill in a last-ditch vote Thursday, all but guaranteeing a partial government shutdown starting Saturday.
Mourners in a remote Canadian town grappled Thursday with the aftermath of one of the country’s deadliest school shootings in decades, as families, survivors and leaders reacted to the tragedy that left eight victims — most of them children — dead, along with the 18-year-old suspect.
A gunman who opened fire at a school in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai city on Wednesday wounded a teacher and a student before being detained, authorities said, in a rare attack that sent students and staff into panic.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, advancing legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain amid strong Democratic opposition.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that its advanced David’s Sling air and missile defense system has completed a series of complex modernized tests, a development officials say bolsters the country’s defensive posture as tensions with Iran escalate and the United States prepares military options that could include direct strikes.