… The Vatican said on Monday in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies.

… A document from the Vatican’s doctrinal office said such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all…

…It should in no way be confused with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage…

This is gaywashing at best, but it still sounds like blatant homophobia.

No change to “not a sin to be gay, it is a sin to have gay sex”. Add on that gay couples are now officially “irregular”.

Wow, great strides there. (👈sarcasm)

The Catholics are going to be in a difficult place as gayness becomes more normal. It’s quickly becoming self-evident that homosexual relationships are not immoral at all. That’s probably going to accelerate over the next few decades.

So the church should probably do more than just this to accept gay people, but they can’t. Catholic rulings set by ecumenical councils or by the pope (in such a way as to invoke papal infallibility) can’t be changed. It’s like if the US constitution could only be amended if the amendments didn’t contradict or repeal any existing text.

So if the church says “no homo, and that’s final,” then they can’t go back and change it to “just a little homo, as a treat.” It’s hard to find an exact citation, but I’m pretty sure they’ve already said “no homo” enough to make it official, so there’s no going back from that. Unless they also retract infallibility.