Gay Catholics Rejoice as Pope Approves Same-Sex Blessings — But ‘This Is Just a First Step’ (Exclusive)

The earthquake turned into a tsunami in the Catholic community on Monday when Pope Francis made it clear that Catholic priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples.

“My first reaction was, ‘Oh my God, he really did it!’” Michael Pettinger, co-chair of the Gay Men and Religious Program at the American Academy of Religion in New York, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “My second thought was, ‘Now the s— is going to hit the fan.’

Pettinger says he spends a lot of time on “Catholic X” (formerly Twitter), and social media lit up with the news after months of speculation.

“There was a lot of gnashing of teeth and talk of stepping into the abyss,” Pettinger, 62, says. “But for us who are queer and Catholic, there was a lot of jubilation. There was also caution that this was just the first step of a church that has gone to great lengths to say that same-sex unions are not really marriages.”

According to a document released Monday by the Vatican’s Office of Doctrine, the 87-year-old pope believes that allowing same-sex couples to be blessed “is like an expression of the motherly heart of the Church.”

The Vatican with St. Peter’s Basilica.

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The announcement comes two months after the pope’s first response to questions officially raised by five cardinals on the matter. In October, he indicated that he would be open to some Catholic priests blessing same-sex unions.

“God never rejects the one who approaches him!” it is stated in the document. “Ultimately, the blessing offers people a way to increase their trust in God. … It is the seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured and not hindered.”

Catholic Richard Saenz, 42, a lawyer in New York, tells PEOPLE that the pope’s announcement filled him with “a sense of love and understanding.”

He recalls how his husband proposed to him on Christmas Eve 2014, when he went to mass with his mother, a “pious Colombian,” and then had dinner with the family.

“Blessing our union and so many other happy couples is a big step toward true equality,” Saenz says. “Our family and our government recognize our marriage, and the Pope’s announcement means that we too are part of God’s love – even though we never doubted it.”

However, the document emphasizes that any “rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage… and what is contrary to it” are inadmissible.

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Pope Francis in the Vatican on November 12, 2023.

Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty

In the declaration, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández stated that the new rule does not change the “traditional doctrine of the Church on marriage” and does not allow liturgical rites that resemble the sacrament of marriage.

According to the document, the declaration aims to enable those seeking the blessing to “open their lives to God, ask for his help to live better” and live with greater faithfulness.

“The Church welcomes all those who approach God with humble hearts, accompanying them with those spiritual aids that enable everyone to understand and fully realize God’s will in their existence,” the text reads.

Cait Gardiner, 21, tells PEOPLE they were “incredibly excited” and shared the good news almost immediately with another friend who was raised Catholic but left the church because of anti-LGBTQ views.

Will their friend return to the church?

“It opens up an opportunity that was previously a closed door,” says Gardiner, who is now more optimistic about the church’s future.

“Allowing the blessing of same-sex couples will retain more of the goodness of our faith while rejecting the evils of discrimination and exclusion,” says Gardiner, a Maryland youth member of DignityUSA, an organization that “works for respect and justice for people of all sexual orientations, genders and gender identities — especially gay people , lesbian, bisexual and transgender people — in the Catholic Church and the world through education, advocacy and support,” according to their mission statement.

“I look forward to continued progress and greater involvement,” adds Gardiner.

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In October 2020, the Pope expressed his support for civil unions of same-sex couples in comments shown in the documentary Francesco.

Pope Francis in the Vatican on November 15, 2023.

Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

In March 2021, the Vatican said that the Catholic community should accept gay people with “respect and sensitivity”, although their marriages and unions will not receive the same response.

Pope Francis made headlines again last January when he told the Associated Press that laws criminalizing homosexuality were “unjust,” adding, “We are all God’s children and God loves us as we are.”

Pettinger says he studies the history of the church and understands that it moves very slowly, because otherwise it would “cause it to split into a million pieces.”

“But as a human being, you only have one life, and you would want to live as a gay man in a church that understands and loves you exactly as you are,” says Pettinger. “Those of us who are queer and Catholic want to live in a church that knows, loves and blesses us just as we are.”

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Source: HIS Education