Pope Francis Opens Possibility for Blessing Same-sex Unions

thegavoice.com:

Blessing same-sex unions within the Catholic Church may be a possibility, says Pope Francis. In yet another missive addressing LGBTQ+ inclusion, Pope Francis told cardinals who have questioned the pope’s affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community in the Catholic Church that he thinks this can happen.

Pope Francis has made reaching out to LGBTQ+ people a hallmark of his papacy. In a document released on Oct. 2 by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope’s latest decision allows for pastoral ministers to administer such blessings on a case-by-case basis, advising that “pastoral prudence” and “pastoral charity” should guide any response to couples who request a blessing. “The life of the church,” the Pope writes, “runs through many channels in addition to the standard ones,” indicating that respecting diverse and particular situations must take precedence over Church law.

Pope Francis said this in a July letter just made public in advance of a Synod to be held starting Oct. 4 at the Vatican. The letter, written in Pope Francis’s native Spanish, reaffirmed that “the Church has a very clear understanding of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation,” according to the Vatican News.

But Francis also added that there should be “pastoral charity.” Pope Francis said, “The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement.