VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A Vatican declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples sent shock waves around the world when it was released on Monday (Dec. 18) and deepened an already strong divide between conservatives and progressives in the church.
The document, “Fiducia Supplicans,” issued by the Dicastery on the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Francis, explicitly states that it made no changes to Catholic teaching on marriage or sexuality, and in fact sets limitations on the blessings for couples considered “irregular” in the church, including same-sex couples as well as unmarried or remarried couples.
But advocates for LGBTQ inclusion in the church have praised the declaration as an unprecedented opening.
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and founder of Outreach, an online resource to promote the welcoming of LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church, described the document as a “major step forward” that “recognizes the deep desire in many Catholic same-sex couples for God’s presence in their loving relationships.”
In an email on Monday, Martin said that the declaration signified a “dramatic shift” for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in March 2021 banned the blessing of same-sex couples, saying that God “cannot bless sin.”
“This new declaration opens the door to non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, something that had been previously off limits for bishops, priests and deacons,” Martin said, adding that “As many priests will, I will be delighted to bless my friends in same-sex unions.”
The pope signaled an opening to the possibility of blessing same-sex couples in October in his answers to questions posed by a group of conservative prelates on divisive issues in the church. But while Monday’s step does not create a ceremony to validate gay unions in the church’s eyes, it is a step that few could foresee just months ago.
New Ways Ministry, a network dedicated to the promotion of LGBTQ Catholics in the church, also praised the decision, describing it as “an early Christmas gift.”
“It cannot be overstated how significant the Vatican’s new declaration is,” said Francis DeBernardo, the organization’s executive director, in a statement on Monday. DeBernardo underscored that the document states that those seeking the blessing must not be subjected to an interrogation regarding their morality or personal lives.
“Such a declaration is one more step Pope Francis has taken to overturn the harsh policing of pastoral care all too common under his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI,” the statement read.
Members of New Ways Ministry met with Pope Francis in a private audience in October and claimed that the declaration echoed the pastoral approach displayed by the pontiff at the time. “This declaration is proof that church teaching can — and does — change,” the statement read.
Other Catholic organizations cautioned that the road to fully welcoming same-sex couples remains long. In the United Kingdom, the LGBT+ Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council, created by the archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said in a statement that “Fiducia Supplicans” is “a small step towards the radical inclusion of LGBT+ people of God.”
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