Pope Francis has suggested he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex couples.

Responding to a group of cardinals who asked him for clarity on the issue, he said any request for a blessing should be treated with “pastoral charity”.

“We cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude,” he said.

He added, however, that the Church still considered same-sex relationships “objectively sinful” and would not recognise same-sex marriage.

The request was one of a number sent to the Pope ahead of a weeks-long global gathering to discuss the future of the Church, set to get under way at the Vatican on Wednesday.

In the Catholic Church, a blessing is a prayer or plea, usually delivered by a minister, asking for God to look favourably on the person or people being blessed.

Bishops in a number of countries, including Belgium and Germany, have begun to allow priests to bless same-sex couples, but the position of Church authorities remained unclear.

Though this seems a significant change in tone, it has to be remembered that as recently the spring of 2021, the same pope approved a decree from the Vatican’s doctrinal office forbidding priests from blessing same-sex unions.

Then, it was stressed that such partnerships are sinful and as such could not be blessed. Earlier this year, when Pope Francis talked of homosexuality not being a crime, he still talked of it as being a sin.

In referring to blessings now, Pope Francis has not expressly talked of what would be blessed: the unions or the individual or group wanting to be blessed.

He talked more generally of those asking for blessing as expressing a request for help from God to be able to live better, something he said should not be denied them.

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