Blessing for LGBT couples is for mercy, conversion: Villegas

MANILA — Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas on Tuesday said blessing LGBT couples should only be for mercy and not sanctification or to make things holy.

In episcopal guidance, Villegas laid out rules for implementing Fiducia Supplicans, a document released by the Vatican and approved by Pope Francis, which allows Catholic priests to bless couples in irregular situations.

Unmarried couples and divorcees are also considered to be in irregular situations and can also receive the blessing.

"This blessing of mercy is not and cannot be a blessing of sanctification since we cannot ask God to bless something that, as Fiducia supplicans explains, is not 'conformed to God's will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church,'" said Villegas, a former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

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He said priests invited to bless couples in irregular situations "should choose the appropriate words to reveal this intent of the Church."

Fiducia Supplicans, published by the Vatican's faith department, does not change the Catholic Church's stance on same-sex marriages or unions.

It reiterates the long-held position that marriage is between only a man and a woman, for the purpose of having children — and says no blessings should be given that confuse the issue.

"This blessing should never be imparted in concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in connection with them," the document said.

Thysz Estrada, chairperson of Pantay, on Tuesday welcomed the development, saying it opens up avenues for equality, inclusivity and allyship.

Estrada hopes the blessing will foster conversations on LGBTQIA+ relationships, adding it is an acknowledgement of these relationships.

"The impact is immense," she said.

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THIRD CATEGORY OF BLESSING

Villegas said in his guidance that the document added mercy as a third category of blessing.

The first two categories of blessing are the blessing of exorcism, which dispels evil in a person or thing, and the blessing of sanctification, he noted.

According to Villegas, "When a Catholic priest prays a blessing of mercy on a couple in an irregular situation...he is asking God to have pity on both of them and to give them the grace of conversion so that they can regularize their relationships."

"Asking for mercy is a request for pity and for remedy," he said.

—with a report from Agence France-Presse