Pope Francis: Priests can bless gay people, but not their unions

Pope Francis stated that priests can bless gay and lesbian individuals who are in relationships, but not their unions, during an interview aired by ’60 Minutes’ on Sunday.

“What I allowed was not to bless the union. That cannot be done because that is not the sacrament. I cannot. The Lord made it that way. But to bless each person, yes. The blessing is for everyone,” he conveyed to CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell.

According to ‘Washington Blade’, Francis had the conversation with O’Donnell at Casa Santa Marta, his official residence at the Vatican.

“To bless a homosexual-type union, however, goes against the given right, against the law of the church. But to bless each person, why not?” Francis added. “The blessing is for all. Some people were scandalized by this. But why? Everyone! Everyone!”

Image Credit: Canva

Towards the end of last year, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a new document that elaborates on a letter Francis sent earlier in 2023 to five cardinals who encouraged him to reaffirm church teachings on homosexuality.

Francis, in his letter released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2023, suggested that priests could offer blessings to same-sex couples under certain conditions “if they didn’t confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.”

“Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,” states the document. “The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures 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.”

Francis was the archbishop of Buenos Aires when Argentina’s marriage equality law was enacted in 2010. He was among those who strongly opposed the legislation before then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed it.

Francis has publicly supported civil unions for same-sex couples and has also spoken out against laws that criminalise consensual same-sex sexual relations.

“It is a human fact,” Francis told O’Donnell.

Since Francis became pope in 2013, the Vatican’s stance towards LGBTQ+ issues has softened, even though church teachings on gender identity and other topics have not changed. During the interview, Francis sharply criticised conservative American bishops who “oppose” his “new efforts to revisit teachings and traditions.”

“You used an adjective, ‘conservative.’ That is, conservative is one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude,” he told O’Donnell. “Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box.”

Read related myGwork articles here:

Pope Francis hits back at critics of blessings for same-sex couples

Pope Francis Authorises Blessings For Same-Sex Couples

Pope Francis’ Vatican Chat With LGBTQ+ Catholics Shows His “Acceptance,” Group Says

Pope Suggests Blessings For Same-Sex Unions Possible In Response To 5 Conservative Cardinals