ST. FRANCIS — A big move for the Catholic Church. The Pope just made a historic decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.
This allows priests to bless same-sex couples, but not conduct same-sex marriage or unions. Still, it is a huge change in principles from 2021, when The Vatican’s congregation for the doctrine of the faith said the church could not bless the union of same-sex couples because “God cannot bless sin.”
Father Tim Kitzke in Riverwest feels the same way as the Pope today, who insisted that people seeking the faith should not be blocked from receiving it, “They’re seeking a relationship with Jesus, so how could I not support that?”
Kitzke said, “We have many people in our parishes here who are wonderful here who are of different sexual orientations, so I would base things on individual circumstances.”
Barb Farrar, executive director of the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin believes this is a major step in the right direction, but believes more should happen.
“I would love for the Catholic Church to support gay marriage and I would love for them to see same-sex couples in the same light as heterosexual couples,” said Farrar.
Archbishop Jerome Listecki sent us a statement Monday:
“Pope Francis is talking about a pastoral blessing that a priest may give to anyone who is seeking God’s help, not a blessing of a marriage itself. The Church’s teaching on marriage remains the same, that it is between one man and one woman.”
