Pope’s approval of gay blessings could have impact where rights are restricted: LGBTQ advocates

ROME: Pope Francis’ authorization for Catholic priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples is in many ways a recognition of what has been going on in some European parishes for years. But Francis’ decision to officially spell out his approval could send a message of tolerance to places where gay rights are more restricted.

From Uganda to the United States, laws that discriminate against LGBTQ people or even criminalised homosexuality have increased in recent years, leaving communities feeling under attack. Pastors in some conservative Christian denominations in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, have sometimes supported such measures as consistent with biblical teaching about homosexuality.

The Vatican says gays should be treated with dignity and respect but says homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” Francis hasn’t changed that teaching, but he has spent much of his 10-year pontificate trying to show a more welcoming attitude to LGBTQ Catholics.

The Vatican statement Monday marked a new step in Francis’ campaign, explicitly authorizing priests to offer non-sacramental blessings to same-sex couples. The conditions are that such blessings must in no way resemble marriage, which the church teaches can only exist between a man and woman.

The Rev Wolfgang Rothe, a German priest who participated in open worship services blessing same-sex couples in May 2021, said Tuesday the approval essentially validated what he and other priests in Germany have been doing for years. But he said it would make life easier for homosexual couples in more conservative societies.

“In my church, such blessings always take place when anyone has the need,” Rothe said by phone from Munich.

However, he added that “in many countries around the world there are opposing moves to maintain homophobia in the church. For homosexual couples living there, the document will be a huge relief”.

In Nigeria, for example, law enforcement authorities staged mass arrests of gay people in October in a crackdown that human rights groups said made use of the country’s same-sex prohibition law to target the LGBTQ community.

Nigeria is one of more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries where homosexuality is criminalised in laws that are broadly supported by the public, even though its constitution guarantees freedom from discrimination and the right to private and family life.

Uganda’s president earlier this year signed into law anti-gay legislation that prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV, as well as with minors and other categories of vulnerable people.

The bill signed by President Yoweri Museveni doesn’t criminalise those who identify as LGBTQ, which an earlier draft bill had done. LGBTQ rights campaigners said even the amended legislation was unnecessary in a country where homosexuality has long been illegal under a colonial-era law criminalizing sexual activity “against the order of nature”.

There was no immediate statement from the Catholic church in Uganda on the pope’s authorization.