Pope Leo XIV Signals No Expansion of Same-Sex Blessings

Pope Leo XIV said on Thursday he does not plan to expand the Catholic Church’s approach to blessing same-sex couples beyond the steps taken by his predecessor, Pope Francis, warning that further changes could lead to schisms.

Returning from a trip to Africa, he praised Francis’s 2023 decision to allow priests to give informal blessings to such couples outside liturgical rites and on a case-by-case basis. However, he stressed that the Vatican does not intend to formalize the practice further.

“To go further today could cause more division than unity”, the pope said. He also addressed efforts by some church leaders, particularly in Germany, to introduce more formal rules, recalling that the Holy See does not support such an approach.

At the same time, the pontiff stressed that the unity of the Church should not be reduced to questions of sexual morality. He said there are more important issues — justice, equality and freedom.