https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/18/europe/pope-francis-same-sex-couples-blessing-intl/index.html
If you read the above CNN news report on Vatican's decision to bless same-sex couples today (or the same from any other major news outlet), you will get the wrong impression that the Catholic Church is moving away from its longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage (SSM) because it finally agrees to bless the same-sex couples.
The news report also accused the Church of changing "a 2021 ruling from the Vatican doctrine office which barred any blessings" of same-sex couples. The implication was that the Church's teaching is not to be taken seriously because it can change and has changed in this case.
Nothing is further from the truth.
If you read Vatican's Declaration directly (Fiducia Supplicans, Declaration on the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings, December 18, 2023), you will realize that the Church remains firm in its opposition to SSM; and that the 2021 ruling barring any blessings of SS couples remains valid.
If anything, the Declaration re-affirms again and again the Church's opposition to SSM, insisting that marriage is the "exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children". It emphasizes that "the Church's doctrine on this point remains firm" (n.4).
What the document does is to clarify that there are two kinds of blessing. A liturgical blessing "requires that what is blessed be conformed to God's will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church" (n.9). As an example, what the Sacrament of Matrimony confers is a liturgical blessing. As SSM does not conform to God's will and is morally wrong, it cannot be blessed. So, the above-mentioned 2021 ruling remains unchanged. In other words, the CNN report's accusation that the Church's teaching has changed is wrong.
The second kind of blessing is a general, pastoral blessing which allows the Church or an ordained minister to bless someone - anyone - who has the humility to realize that they need God's mercy and help "to move forward, to live better, and to respond to the Lord's will" (n.20). This kind of blessing is essentially open to everyone. There's no need for the Church or an ordained minister to scrutinize closely the moral status of the receiver of the blessing to ensure they "have prior moral perfection" (n.25). Blessing for same-sex couples and couples in irregular situations (divorced and remarried for example) falls into this category.
In this special season of Advent, let's pray for unity and harmony in the Church handed down to us from St. Peter and the Apostles. Let's pray in particular for the Holy Father, who is constantly in need of the Holy Spirit's guidance and protection.
