Pope Francis and the Vatican recently clarified that gay people can receive blessings as individuals, much like any other person who may hope to receive one. It further clarifies that such a blessing should never be conflated with any kind of approval of a same-sex union.
In a document the Vatican’s doctrine office released on Monday, it was clarified that "when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it," before adding that "those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection."
The same document also notes that in order to avoid "any form of confusion or scandal," any situation in which same-sex couples ask for a blessing "should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them. Nor can it be performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding."
It further goes on to clarify that these blessings are "an expression of the Church’s maternal heart" and that "there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness." Such a statement is consistent with the Church's existing teachings.
Also in the document is a statement that "one can understand the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples" while still not "officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage."
The remarks about blessing homosexuals in particular have ginned up faux controversy in the mainstream media, with numerous outlets implying that Francis is intentionally moving the Catholic Church towards being accepting of so-called same-sex marriages, often doing so by way of utilizing misleading headlines and ledes.
NBC News, for instance, ran a piece titled: "Pope says priests can bless same-sex couples, a radical change in Vatican policy."
Fox News, meanwhile, declared in its headline: "Pope Francis allows priests to bless same-sex couples."
The second paragraph of NBC's posted piece says that Pope Francis sent a letter "suggesting such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage," and Fox News explains in its third paragraph that Francis suggested blessings for homosexual individuals "could be offered under some circumstances if those receiving the blessing did not confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
