Since 2013, Pope Francis has worked to open the Church to the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, in November 2023, the Vatican said it is permissible under certain circumstances for trans people to be baptized as Catholics and serve as godparents. The Vatican announced on Monday, December 18, 2023 that Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples. This was a radical shift in policy aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage.
Pope Francis stated that the blessings could be offered under some circumstances if the blessings weren’t confused with the ritual of marriage. The Church reaffirmed that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. And it stressed that the blessings in question must not be tied to any specific Catholic celebration or religious service, and should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union ceremony. Additionally, the blessings can’t use set rituals or even involve the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.
While not issuing full approval of same-sex church weddings, it is another example of the progressiveness of the Catholic Church. Earlier in 2023, Pope Francis, in an interview with The AP, stated, “Being homosexual isn’t a crime”. He was criticizing laws that criminalize homosexuality. Only a few months after becoming pope, Francis remarked, “Who am I to judge?” when it comes to the sexual orientation of priests.
A supporting document released by the Vatican offers offers an extensive and broad definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for His love and mercy shouldn’t be held up to an impossible moral standard to receive it: “For, those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection”. It added, “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”. It also said that ultimately, a blessing is about helping people increase their trust in God: “It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered”.
Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which supports LGBTQ+ Catholics said, “The significance of this news can’t be overstated. It’s one thing to formally approve same-gender blessings, which he had already pastorally permitted, but to say that people should not be subjected to ‘an exhaustive moral analysis’ to receive God’s love and mercy is an even more significant step”.
In the United States, the Rev. John Oesterle, a Catholic priest and hospital chaplain in Pittsburgh, said many priests would probably not be open to offering such a blessing, but he welcomed Francis’ action. He said, “I think the pope has learned to accept people as God made them. When I was growing up, the assumption was that God made everyone straight. What we have learned is that is not true. In accepting people as God made them, and if Jesus’ primary teaching is we should love and serve one another in the community, I think that’s what gives Pope Francis the openness to God’s presence in those relationships.”
On December 17, 2023, one day before the Vatican made their pronouncement, the Church of England announced a similar move allowing clergy to bless the unions of same-sex couples who have had civil weddings or partnerships, but it still bans church weddings for same-sex couples.
Progressive policy in the religious world regarding LGBTQ+ issues will not stop, but that will never change God’s law. In Genesis 2:24-25, marriage was designated for a man and woman and nothing else. Redefining marriage and legitimizing LGBTQ+ issues is directly opposed to the Bible, for God has always condemned it (Genesis 19:5-7; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
The Bible says that God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, our identity is not based on our interests, desires, or attractions. Whether someone struggles with same-sex attraction, alcoholism, drug abuse, or even pride, we do not identify them by that feeling.
The Bible does not say that is a sin to struggle with same-sex attraction. The Bible says that it is a sin to act on that struggle — to engage in homosexual behavior. God loves people who are LGBTQ+, but He wants them to find repentance and redemption in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:25; Hebrews 9:12).
Kyle Campbell