Pope says priests can now bless same-sex couples but Vatican stops short of marriage

Pope Francis is shaking up the Catholic Church with a new announcement for same-sex couples.

The Vatican has approved blessings for same-sex couples - but with some special caveats.

While Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless gay and lesbian couples’ relationships he has insisted these ceremonies must not be established as a Catholic rite nor given in contexts related to civil unions or weddings.

In a document approved by Pope Francis, the Vatican backed “the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex”.

It said such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but be a sign that “God welcomes all”.

“One should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing,” it said.

But it does not change the Catholic Church’s stance on same-sex marriages or unions. The Church insists marriage is only between a man and a woman, for the purpose of having children.

But it says such blessings should not be denied to gay couples and that “a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God... It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”

Pope Francis overlooking St. Peter's square in The Vatican. Picture: AFP

LGBT rainbow flag hangs from on the steeple of the parish church in the Breitenfeld quarter in Vienna. Picture: AFP

“This blessing should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them,” the document stressed.

The Head of the Vatican’s faith department, which wrote the document, was quoted in an introduction as saying it was “a broadening and enrichment” of the Vatican’s stance on blessings, “based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis,” who wants a Church open to all.

In 2021, the Vatican said the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions because God cannot “bless sin”.

On Monday it upheld that line. “To avoid any form of confusion or scandal”, blessings for same-sex couples cannot be “performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding”.

“Such a blessing may instead find its place in other contexts, such as a visit to a shrine, a meeting with a priest, a prayer recited in a group, or during a pilgrimage,” it said.

Palestinian women walk past a coffee shop with a pictures of Pope Francis on December 18, 2023 in Bethlehem, West Bank. Picture: Maja Hitij/Getty Images

POPE FRANCIS DENOUNCES KILLING OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN

It comes as Pope Francis has deplored the killing of a Palestinian Christian mother and her daughter who were shot dead “in cold blood” by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of Gaza’s only Catholic Church, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

Pope Francis said the women’s killing happened in a church complex “where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities”.

Israel’s military said it was looking into that incident.

More than 18,800 Palestinians - around 70 per cent of them women, young children and adolescents - have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments since October 7, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.

POPE’S ADVISER SENTENCED IN VATICAN FRAUD TRIAL

A Vatican court has sentenced a once powerful Italian cardinal to five years and six months in jail for financial crimes at the end of a historic trial.

Angelo Becciu, 75, a former adviser to Pope Francis who was once considered a papal contender himself, was the most senior clergyman in the Catholic Church to face a Vatican criminal court.

His lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said they respected the sentence but would appeal, continuing to insist on Becciu’s innocence.

The cardinal had been accused of embezzlement, abuse of office and witness tampering, one of ten defendants in a trial focused on a disastrous investment by the Vatican in a luxury building in London.

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for fraud. Picture: Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

They included financiers, lawyers and ex-Vatican employees accused of a range of financial crimes - all of whom were found guilty except for Becciu’s former secretary Mauro Carlino.

The court also ordered the confiscation from those convicted of 166 million euros, and ordered them to compensate the civil parties to the tune of more than 200 million euros.

The Holy See had declared itself “an offended party” and four Vatican entities were civil parties, claiming hundreds of millions of euros, including for moral and reputational damage.

The trial shone a light on the Holy See’s murky finances, which Pope Francis has sought to clean up since taking the helm of the Catholic Church in March 2013.

Just weeks before the first hearing, Francis gave the Vatican’s civilian courts the power to try cardinals and bishops, where previously they were judged by a court presided over by cardinals.

At the heart of the trial was the purchase of a building in London’s up-market Chelsea neighbourhood, which resulted in losses that the Vatican claimed dipped into resources intended for charity.

Originally published as Pope says priests can now bless same-sex couples but Vatican stops short of marriage