Pope Francis approves blessings for same-sex {couples}, says ceremonies can’t resemble marriage

The Vatican introduced Monday that Pope Francis has given formal approval to monks blessing same-sex {couples}.

In a declaration titled “Fiducia Supplicans,” the Vatican stated Catholics in search of God’s mercy shouldn’t be subjected to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to obtain it.

The radical change comes after Francis stated in a letter to 5 cardinals that pastoral “prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not transmit a wrong conception of marriage.”

Monday’s declaration was launched in 5 languages by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and permitted by the pontiff. It asserts that such blessings can’t be “similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion” corresponding to a wedding ceremony.

According to the declaration, the blessing ought to by no means be linked to a civil union ceremony, “and not even in connection with them.” The doc states such a blessing can’t use clothes, gestures or phrases that resemble a marriage ceremony.

Instead, the blessing might be impacted throughout a go to to a shrine, a gathering with a priest, a gaggle prayer or throughout a pilgrimage.

“There is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better,” the doc stated.