Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the Spanish newspaper ABC that it is “proper to each local bishop” to discern whether to grant blessings to same-sex couples—especially in Africa, where “there is legislation that penalizes with prison the mere fact of declaring oneself to be gay.”
The prelate insisted that such a blessing does not entail “accepting a marriage, nor is it a ratification of the life they lead, nor is it an absolution. It is a simple gesture of pastoral closeness that does not have the same requirements of a sacrament.”
“We will have to get used to understanding that if a priest gives this type of simple blessing, he is not a heretic, he is not ratifying anything, nor is he denying the Catholic doctrine on marriage,” Cardinal Fernández added.