Vatican says priests can bless same-sex unions

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- For the first time, the Vatican's doctrinal office on Monday officially declared that Catholic priests can bless same-sex unions along with divorced and remarried couples.

The eight-page declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith presents strict guidelines for such blessings, requiring that they only be offered as spontaneous personal blessings without any ritualization and do not imply that the relationship is a marriage.

It also noted that the blessings bless the couple and not their union.

"A brief prayer preceding this spontaneous blessing, the ordained minister could ask that the individuals have peace, health a spirit of patience, dialogue and mutual assistance -- but also God's light and strength to be able to fulfill his will completely," it read.

The document said such blessings would serve as a prayer that God may aid in such relationships so they "may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel, that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties, and that they may express themselves in the ever-increasing dimension of the divine love."

Pope Francis in October hinted at the possibility of such a shift earlier in his response to five retired conservative Catholic cardinals who wrote him on whether such blessings might be possible.

"Pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not transmit a mistaken concept of marriage," he said at the time.

He, however, maintained that the Catholic church clearly defines marriage as "an exclusive, stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to begetting children."

The Vatican's guidelines come after Catholic bishops in Belgium published their own guidelines for same-sex marriage and bishops in Germany approved plans for same-sex blessings.

The Church of England officially sanctioned blessings for same-sex couples, going a step further than the Catholic church by allowing them in a liturgical context.