Pope Francis.Photo:Franco Origlia/Getty
Franco Origlia/Getty
Pope Francishas suggested he would be open to some Catholic priests blessing same-sex unions, a potentially major reversal on the official Vatican position.
The 86-year-old pontiff expressed his stance on the matter inan eight-page letter, released on Monday, in response to five cardinals’ formally-submitted questions about the matter, according to theVatican News, an outlet officially affiliated with the Catholic Church.
Though he stated that marriage is an “indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation,” the pope said Catholic priests “cannot be judges who only deny, push back and exclude.”
“For when a blessing is requested,” he added, “it is expressing a plea to God for help, a supplication to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us live better.”
The letter was released ahead of a major meeting at the Vatican where LGBTQ+ issues will be on the agenda, perNBC News.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” he said, according to a previousThe New York Timesreport. “I stood up for that.”
“They’re children of God and have a right to a family,” he added, perThe Washington Post. “Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable because of it.”
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Pope Francis has alsocondemned anti-LBGTQ lawsaround the world. In July 2023, he told theAssociated Presslaws that criminalize homosexuality “unfair” and said, “being homosexual isn’t a crime.”
“We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are,” he added.
In March 2021, the Vatican said that the Catholic community should welcome gay people with “respect and sensitivity,” but that their unions would not receive the same treatment.
The Vatican said the “positive elements” present in such relationships “cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of the ecclesial blessing.”
“The declaration of the unlawfulness of blessings of unions between persons of the same sex is not therefore, and is not intended to be, a form of unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite and of the very nature of the sacramentals, as the Church understands them,” the statement said.
source: people.com
