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…
Read the full article here