Pope Francis Signals Openness To Blessings For Same Sex Couples (image-instgram/franciscus)

While responding to a group of Cardinals, Pope Francis suggested that he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same sex couples. He clarified the issue by saying that any request for a blessing should be treated with “pastoral charity”.

Francis shared his opinion while replying to the cardinals from Asia, Europe, Africa, United States and Latin America.

He said we cannot be judges who only denies, rejects and excludes. But he added that the Church still continues to consider same sex-relationships as ‘objectively sinful’ and will not recognize ‘same-sex marriages’.

Pope was answering to a set of formal questions known as ‘dubia’ about issues to a global gathering that starts at the Vatican on Wednesday. The question was raised as the bishops in number of countries, including Belgium and Germany have begun to allow priests have begun to bless same-sex couples, reports BBC.

After the Pope’s response, the five cardinals unilaterally disclosed their disagreement with Franci’s answers.

In his response, Francis said that the Church was very clear that the sacrament of matrimony could only be between a man and women and he added that the Church should avoid “any type of rite or sacramental that might contradict this conviction”. And the request for blessings were means through which people reached out to God for help, he said.

“Canon law should not and cannot cover everything,” Pope added.

Francis added that there was no need for bishop conferences to turn to such pastoral charity into fixed norms or protocols, and said that the issue could be dealt with on a case-by-case basis “because the life of the church runs on channels beyond norms”.

Similarly in 2021, a following similar request was made for clarification but the Vatican doctrinal office ruled against allowing the practice

The Pope’s response is contradictory to his statement in March in which he said that the Church could not bless same-sex unions, because they could not “bless sin”, says CNN.

In February, the Church of England backed proposals to allow prayers of blessing for same-sex couples. This move would allow a same-sex couple to go to an Anglican church after a legal marriage ceremony for services including prayers of dedication, thanksgiving, and God”s blessing