CNN
When the Vatican officially announced its approval of the blessing of same-sex couples this week, the media went into overdrive. The news was termed a “shocking reversal on same-sex relationships,” a “landmark ruling,” and a “radical shift in church policy.”
You’d think the hyperventilating reaction signaled a major reform. Instead, all the attention concerned a change that was much more modest and not even new.
Back in October, Pope Francis, responding to questions from ultra-conservative cardinals, wrote that he was open to permitting the blessing of same-sex couples, provided they were done by priests on a case-by-case basis, and were not confused with Catholic marriage, which is defined by the church as a union between a man and woman open to procreation.
A declaration released Monday, approved by Francis and issued by his newly appointed doctrinal czar, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, said much the same thing. It does not do anything dramatic, like convening a group of moral theologians to consider revising the church’s teaching on sexual ethics.
Instead, the formal policy makes clear that the Vatican is not approving the blessing of a same-sex union, which remains sinful in the church’s eyes, but blessing the couples in those unions.
And while it reflects a definite change in the church’s approach to LGBTQ Catholics, and will bring hope to those who still search for some acceptance in the church, it does nothing to revise Catholic doctrine.
Indeed, the Vatican’s extensive policy is also clamping down on what some reform-minded bishops in Europe had already begun to do – creating rituals and prayers to bless same-sex unions.
This narrowly tailored Vatican ruling won’t prevent one gay Catholic teacher from getting fired from a parochial school, open any church for gay Catholics to meet, require Catholic social service agencies to permit gay couples to adopt, or persuade many conservative Catholics across the globe that LGBTQ people should not face discrimination.
