Leo XIV reaffirmed that the Catholic Church rejects the formal blessing of homosexual couples and those in irregular situations, when answering questions from the press during the return flight from Equatorial Guinea to Rome. The American pontiff clarified that all people can receive a blessing, but emphasized that the official position of the Holy See excludes the possibility of a specific ritual for this type of union. On board the papal plane, Leo XIV pointed out that unity or division within the Church does not depend exclusively on sexual issues and broadened the framework of priorities towards issues such as “justice, equality, the freedom of men and women, and religious freedom.”
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The Pope pointed out that ecclesial unity goes beyond sexual debates
The Pope responded to questions about the recent decision by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, who authorized the blessing of homosexual couples in his diocese. “The unity or division of the church does not revolve around sexual issues. We tend to think that when the Church speaks of morality, the only issue is sexual,” he analyzed, and explained that all people can receive the blessing at the end of a mass, but warned that officializing the blessing to homosexual couples can generate “more disunity than unity” within the Church.Furthermore, in the dialogue with the media, the Holy Father addressed other issues of international relevance, including the armed conflicts involving Israel, the United States, and Iran.
Regarding that issue, he lamented the number of innocent victims, particularly Iranian children who died during attacks on schools. “As a Church and as a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war”, and he called for developing a culture of peace to replace the logic of violence.
The highest Catholic authority defined the Iranian situation as “very complex” and mentioned the difficulty of diplomatic dialogues between Iran and the United States, noting that positions vary from day to day, which increases uncertainty and especially affects the civilian population. The Pope lamented the death of children in the conflicts in the Middle East and advocated for a culture of peace (Reuters)On the other hand, the Pope evoked the image of a Lebanese child who had received him on his visit to Lebanon last December and who recently died under bombings. Under this premise, he considered this memory a symbol of the human cost of conflicts and emphasized the importance of prioritizing the protection of the innocent.
