This Catholic priest is looking forward to blessing same-sex couples 

As It Happens6:28This Catholic priest is looking forward to blessing same-sex couples

The next time a same-sex couple asks Father James Martin for his blessing, he can finally say yes. 

The Vatican said on Monday that Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples, a reversal of a controversial 2021 declaration.

The ruling, approved by Pope Francis, comes with caveats. The blessings should not be part of regular church rituals or liturgies, and should not be confused with marriage, which is still defined as a sacrament between a man and a woman. 

"Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God," the document states. "The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live."

Martin — a Jesuit priest in New York who has long advocated for LGBTQ inclusion in the church — welcomed the news. Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

Father, I wonder, is your phone ringing and ringing today?

I've had lots and lots of emails and texts from very happy LGBTQ Catholics.

How soon do you think you may be able to bless a couple?

I could do it today. You know, I'm waiting for people to ask. But I'm sure that there are priests who are being asked to come to homes and go outside in backyards by a lot of LGBTQ couples who have really longed for this day for years.

Why do you think it's happening now?

Two years ago ... this same [Vatican] department, came out with a document. When asked by someone, "Can we do this? Can priests do this?" they said no, because "God cannot and does not bless sin."

There was a really strong reaction to that. Pope Francis even distanced himself from that. 

Subsequently, a new head of that dicastery, or department, was named, Cardinal [Víctor Manuel] Fernandez. And then just a couple of weeks ago, Pope Francis signalled an openness to revisiting this question, and then he wrote this declaration.

The Pope opened up the door, and Cardinal Fernandez walked through it.

What is the church saying to you, but also to LGBTQ+ Catholics?

The church is saying to me as a priest: You can do it now — with certain limitations, as long as it doesn't seem like a marriage — which I couldn't do yesterday. 

And what it is saying to same-sex couples is that: We value you, and we want God to bless you as individuals and we hear you.

It's a really big step. It's kind of hard to overstate, because I think, for so long, people have thought that the church was just anti-same-sex everything. And so it's a big surprise and a nice early Christmas gift for LGBTQ Catholics.

Given the conversations you've had, or couples who have come to you and you couldn't help them at that time in the way they wanted … what do you think this will mean to them? 

I've been asked many times to do blessings and I've said that I can't. They understand, but they're sad, right? It's like being turned away.

But now they've told me today that they feel much more welcome and much more excited about it.

It's a sign for them of Pope Francis's regard for them and that he's hearing them. It's a sign that they're being listened to. 

The church still, though, as you know, says marriage is between a man and a woman. This is not a marriage ceremony. These are blessings of same-sex couples. So does that still concern you?

No, because I think that we have to focus on the positive step forward. I don't think that many LGBTQ Catholics expected that. 

Marriage, it is a sacrament between a man and a woman. But [blessing a union] is way of accompanying people who may not be able to fit in those categories in a very, I think, creative and theological and pastoral way.

I think most people today are just focusing on the positive news. And you can see by the response of LGBTQ people, if you go online, what this means to them. So, really, the proof is in the pudding. They're very happy about this.

There are cardinals who are against this. There are Catholics who are not pleased about this, certainly. So how do you think that will play out [given] there are people who don't want this change, and they may voice it in their churches?

We have to invite these people to see that the church does develop and grow and change, and that we have to listen to the experience of people on the ground. 

These are not categories and stereotypes and whatnot. These are individuals. And I think what the church is doing — and what Pope Francis and Cardinal Fernandez [are] doing here — is listening to the experience and the needs of these individuals, and responding pastorally.

You've done blessings of other things before. Rings, for example. Is that right?

The irony is, as a Catholic priest, you can bless all sorts of things. You can bless dogs, you can bless sheds, you can bless schools, you can bless factories. But up until now, you couldn't bless same-sex couples, which really struck people as really unjust.

And now you can. So it's really wonderful to be able to do it publicly and not have to worry about skulking around in the shadows.