Pope Leo XIV said on Thursday that the Catholic Church will not go beyond the precedent set by Pope Francis of offering blessings to same-sex couples, adding that there will be no formalized blessings.
While Pope Leo XIV affirmed the 2023 decision enacted by Pope Francis during his flight back to Rome on Thursday, he emphasized that no further changes will be made.
As noted by Reuters, Pope Francis “allowed pastors to give blessings to same-sex couples informally outside of a ritual service, and on a case-by-case basis.”
Pope Leo’s comments were in response to attempts made by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx to formalize blessings of same-sex couples in his diocese.
“The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formal blessing of couples—in this case, same-sex couples, as you requested—or of couples in irregular situations, beyond what Pope Francis has specifically permitted by saying that all people should receive the blessing,” he said.
“When a priest gives the blessing at the end of Mass, when the Pope gives the blessing at the end of a great celebration like the one we had today, there are blessings for all people,” he continued. “Francis’s famous expression, ‘everyone, everyone, everyone,’ expresses the Church’s conviction that everyone is welcomed, everyone is invited, everyone is invited to follow Jesus, and everyone is invited to seek conversion in their own lives. To go beyond this today, I believe, could cause more disunity than unity, and that we should seek to build our unity on Jesus Christ and on what Jesus Christ teaches.”
The pope, however, did affirm that Catholic teaching encompasses a wide variety of intellectual and philosophical thoughts beyond sexual morality.
“We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual,” he said. “In reality, I believe there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality, (and) freedom of men and women.”
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