Southern California Catholic leaders, laypersons, religious and LGBTQ+ groups expressed both relief and mixed feelings over the news that Pope Francis declared Catholic priests can now bless gay or unmarried couples, in some cases, outside of the liturgy.
In a statement, Bishop Alberto Rojas of the San Bernardino Diocese said Monday, Dec. 18 that the new declaration affirms” the church’s teaching that “the Sacrament of Marriage can only be between one man and woman.”
Rojas continued, “It also gives us an important reminder of the love and mercy of Jesus. A blessing is not a sacrament, and anybody can give a blessing to anybody else. A blessing in the Biblical sense is the general gesture to wish good to others. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to extend His love and mercy to all our brothers and sisters, including LGBTQ+ couples, without qualification or judgment.”
The Vatican released a new doctrine document Monday, Dec. 18 that officially allows Catholic priests to issue the blessings, so long as it’s not a formal marriage union or liturgical blessing – as in within a Mass – or that it does not give the impression the church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage.
The document explains a new, radical change in the Catholic Church, asserting that people who seek the mercy and love of God shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
A request for a priest’s blessing can express and nurture “openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live,” the “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) document, from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, read.
Jarryd Gonzales, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Orange, said that since the Pope’s announcement has “only just been published,” they are taking time “to review and study it accordingly.”
Archdiocese of Los Angeles spokesperson Yannina Diaz said Monday that they do not have a comment, and need time to review the announcement. L.A. Archbishop José H. Gomez, who served as the past president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), could not be reached.
In a statement, USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi reiterated that the “Supplicating Trust” document “articulates a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings, and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God’s loving grace in their lives.”
“The Church’s teaching on marriage has not changed, and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives,” Noguchi said.
Joseph Ramos, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa, said that he was “skeptical” about what media says about anything the Pope “declares,” due to his words getting “lost in translation” and other reasons.
“Both liberal and conservative media, at least ones I’ve seen in the U.S. and the U.K., have a tendency to paint Pope Francis as some globalist hippie. These are the same media outlets who claimed that the Pope said that there is no Hell,” Ramos said. “I can see the idea of blessing two individuals who happen to be gay to be somewhat permissible. But blessing their ‘marriage’ or their union, even outside the confines of the liturgy, seems ludicrous to me.”
Jessica Gerhardt, a South Pasadena resident, was raised Catholic and identifies as bisexual. She called the Pope’s statement a “move in a positive direction.”
“It’s a start,” Gerhardt, 34, said. “The pope was pretty clear that this is specific that marriage is between a man and woman — but the pastoral shift is pretty positive.”
Gerhardt is in the process of getting married to her non-binary partner within the Catholic Church. She shared a recent experience when her faith was questioned after she used the word “queer” in her and her partner’s engagement announcement. She said the situation “has been weighing on us,” despite their “deep relationship with Christ and God.”
Gerhardt said her Catholic faith is “central” to her identity as a person, and wants to receive the sacrament of marriage in a church. She is looking forward to her upcoming nuptials, and hopes that the minister will share the same openness, compassion and understanding.
“It’s been very painful to be in positions where I feel like other Catholics are gatekeeping my sense of belonging to this part of my identity on the grounds of things they are very ignorant about,” Gerhardt said. “Our queerness sort of confounds the current language around these things, and I think it creates a challenge to the status quo. We hope that our love in the context of the Catholic Church can expand the Catholic imagination for what queer Catholic love can look like.”
DignityUSA, a global organization of LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies, celebrated the announcement, which it called “an important recognition that (same-sex) relationships can be holy.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director, stated that it feels like “a vindication of the work so many LGBTQIA+ Catholics and allies have been doing for decades to convey our deep conviction that our sexuality and gender identities are blessings from God, and totally consistent with being faithful Catholics.”
“It is clear from this statement that sacramental recognition of same-sex relationships is not yet on the table,” Duddy-Burke said. “However, the Pope has expressed support for civil unions and legal protections of same-sex couples and our families. Perhaps even more importantly, significant majorities of Catholics in many countries already believe that same-sex couples’ relationships are holy, blessed, and equivalent to marriage. It may take time, but we fully expect that the official church will achieve this recognition, as well.”
Since being elected leader of the global Catholic Church in 2013, Pope Francis, who hails from the Jesuit order, has received criticism for what some say is a more “open” stance on same-sex relationships, and is known for being overall more welcome to the LGBTQ+ community.
Though the Pope has long insisted the church “remains firm” in its teaching that marriage can only be between one woman and one man, “being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Pope Francis told The Associated Press earlier this year.
The new document is a contrast to 2021, when the Vatican said that the Catholic Church would not bless same-sex unions, in a statement approved by Pope Francis that many said widened the chasm between the church and much of the LGBTQ community, especially believers.
The Associated Press and Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
