Pope Leo says priests can still bless gay couples; move is significant for all Christians

At first I thought it’s just scraps thrown to the queers. But any move closer to equality in the Church, even an inch, is huge.

Photo by Bertrand Colombo on Unsplash

When I heard that Pope Leo XIV would keep allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, I was moved more than I thought I’d be. I was actually expecting him to rescind Pope Francis’ pro-LGBTQ policy.

As a gay Presbyterian, I maybe shouldn’t care what the Pope does. My church teaches that I can talk to God directly. I don’t need Rome’s permission for anything.

But I do care.

God help me, I care so much it hurts.

The thing is, when the most famous Christian leader in the world says gay couples deserve God’s blessing, it changes everything.

Even if he’s not my Pope.

Even if his church still won’t marry us.

It still matters more than I can put into words.

I remember when Pope Francis first said priests could bless same-sex couples back in 2023. I was skeptical. The rules were so careful, so limited.

Priests could bless us, but only quietly, never in a way that looked like a real wedding. They were blessing us as individuals, not our relationships. It felt like getting scraps.

But it was something.

For the first time in my life, the Catholic Church was saying we weren’t completely shut out from God’s love.

Now Pope Leo says that’s not changing.

In a world where so many religious leaders, especially in the United States, want to take away what little progress we’ve made, here’s the Pope saying no: Gay couples can still seek God’s blessing.

Yes, he also said marriage is still just for men and women. That was expected. That was catechist reality.

But it doesn’t erase what he kept.

I’ve been struggling with my faith and my sexuality my whole life.

I’ve read those Bible verses that people use against us until I could recite them in my sleep.

I’ve prayed until my eyes were red and raw, asking God to help me understand and if not, to stop my being gay. To make me straight.

And through all of it, I’ve come to believe one simple truth: God made me gay.

The same God who made the mountains and the oceans and my straight friends, he made me exactly who I am.

This isn’t something I chose, any more than I chose my brown eyes or my terrible singing voice.

Science keeps showing us that being gay is natural. We see it in animals everywhere, like penguins, dolphins, lions.

If God made a world where love comes in different forms throughout nature, why would humans be any different?

When I look at the complexity of how sexuality develops, I see God’s handiwork, not some cosmic mistake.

Pope Leo gives me hope that faith and science are finally starting to agree.

He spent years working with poor people in Peru, with people others had thrown away.

Maybe that taught him something about God’s love being bigger than human rules?

When he keeps policies that welcome us instead of pushing us out, maybe he’s pointing the whole Christian world toward something better?

I dream about the day when the Pope will say gay marriage is blessed by God too. When the biggest church in the world will look at my relationship and see something holy, not something to be tolerated.

That day might not come in my lifetime, but Pope Leo keeping these blessings alive keeps that dream breathing.

In the Presbyterian Church (USA), we believe God is always teaching us new things through Scripture. The Catholic Church moves like a glacier, but when it moves, everyone notices.

Every time a Catholic priest somewhere blesses a gay couple, it sends a message that reaches every church, every Christian struggling with these questions.

I pray for Pope Leo.

I pray that God will keep opening his heart.

I pray that God will keep showing him that LGBTQ people aren’t broken things to be fixed but beloved children to be celebrated.

I pray for my own church to keep growing too, because not every Reformed Christian has come to acceptance of us yet.

And I pray that someday, all Christians will understand what I know in my bones: I was born this way because God wanted me this way, my love isn’t a sin but a gift, and the God who made us all loves every kind of love that’s real and true.

Pope Leo may never say gay marriages are equal to straight ones.

But his decision to keep blessing same-sex couples is huge.

In a world where being gay and being Christian often feel impossible to hold together, every step toward acceptance matters.

Every blessing offered matters.

Every sign that we belong in God’s house matters more than I can say.

For this gay Presbyterian, Pope Leo’s choice feels like a lifeline. Not the finish line, but a bridge over deep water.

And right now that bridge is everything.