The Catholic Church and the blessing of same-sex couples

As we reported yesterday, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a Declaration, Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings, which appears to represent a considerable departure from the Church’s previous position on blessing couples in same-sex (and unmarried) couples. In the introductory note, the document states that it addresses “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage” [emphasis added].

The Declaration is very wide-ranging. Specifically on the issue of blessing same-sex couples, it includes the following:

III. Blessings of Couples in Irregular Situations and of Couples of the Same Sex Continue reading