Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage.
The new document repeats that rationale and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman. And it stresses that blessings should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding.
But it says requests for such blessings should not be denied full stop. It offers an extensive definition of the term “blessing” in Scripture to insist that people seeking a transcendent relationship with God and looking for his love and mercy should not be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” as a precondition for receiving it.
That’s going to be dependent on jurisdiction. In e.g. Germany church weddings have no legal meaning whatsoever, that has been the case since 1874 when Prussia wrestled everything regarding civil status from the Church. Long story short everything regarding birth, marriage, and death is done by the Standesamt, a municipal office, they keep all the certificates and notarise any changes (not to be confused with the Einwohnermeldeamt which is also often translated “registry office”, but deals with registering your address with the municipality as well as everything passport and ID card related). It’s not a strict “signature and rubber stamp only” thing, they’re amenable to moderate amounts of ceremony, as well as when it comes to venue.
Back when civil law only knew opposite-sex marriages and registered partnerships Lutheran Churches already offered ceremonies to same-sex couples, same exact thing as a marriage ceremony with same theological meaning (promise before god and the congregation, followed by a blessing), what they couldn’t agree on is whether to call it a marriage or a blessing. The conservatives were, bluntly put, worried that some poor angel somewhere would have to re-do all the paperwork. Theologically of course the whole thing is easier in Lutheranism as marriage isn’t a sacrament. Remember that Catholics, to this day, don’t even divorce people – best you can get is an annulation, “there’s never been a marriage in the first place and everything has been a mistake”.