Chicago Catholics heartened by pope’s support of blessings for same-sex couples: ‘I have never felt so affirmed’

As the Vatican announcement that Pope Francis supports blessings for same-sex couples in the Catholic Church reverberated around the world Monday, Chicago-area Catholics saw it as a surprising but reaffirming move toward accepting gay couples in the church.

“When I found out today’s news, I was just thrilled because I have never felt so affirmed by my church as I did today,” said Rick Guasco, co-director of the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach of Chicago.

Growing up gay in a religious family and living with HIV for more than 30 years, Guasco, a South Chicago native, said he found comfort and strength in his Catholic faith.

The outreach organization’s mission is to welcome Catholics in the LGBTQ+ community and let them know they have a safe space in the church, Guasco said. The Chicago branch hosts weekly Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and releases weekly bulletins.

With the announcement Monday, Guasco said gay Catholics are still processing what blessings for same-sex couples will look like and how they will be performed, especially since the community did not expect the news.

“For LGBTQ+ Catholics, it is deeply heartening that their relationships, their committed relationships, are going to be recognized and respected,” Guasco said.

A spokesperson for Cardinal Blase Cupich, who presides over the Archdiocese of Chicago, said Cupich would issue a statement after he is able to read the Pope’s document in full.

[ Pope approves blessings for same-sex couples if they don’t resemble marriage ]

Rick Garcia, a longtime Catholic gay rights activist in Illinois and nationally, said he was at first “stunned then very happy.”

The edict “recognizes that LGBTQ people as made in the image and likeness of God are entitled to friendship and love and justice, and it’s remarkable,” said Garcia, who cofounded LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Illinois and began his career at New Ways Ministry.

The pope’s message distances itself from previous declarations of the church by differentiating LGBTQ people from inherently sexual creatures who have committed wrongs, Garcia said.

“In the past, you could never talk about gay people without talking about sin,” Garcia said. “This Holy Father talks about gay and lesbian and trans people as people, as our family, our sisters, our brothers, and that is really significant.”

However, blessing same-sex relationships does not equate to allowing couples to enter the sacrament of marriage in the church, Garcia said, stressing that the pope has not changed church teaching.

“It cannot give the impression or the illusion that it is the sacrament of marriage,” Garcia said.

Garcia acknowledged that while some Catholics “are probably going ballistic,” the news reiterates Pope Francis’ message: “Todos, todos, todos. Everyone, everyone, everyone is welcome.”

The declaration by Pope Francis maintained a strict ban on same-sex marriage in the Catholic Church, leading some Catholics to warn that while it is a step toward inclusion, there is still work to be done before same-sex couples are seen as equal to heterosexual couples.

“When you read the document in detail, there still is a lot of language that can still be questionable and still brings home that we still have work to do,” said Mary Donnelly, president of Dignity Chicago, an organization ministering to LGBTQ Catholics.

Dignity Chicago operates independently from the Catholic Church, performing marriages for Catholic same-sex couples who cannot be united in the sacrament of marriage in the church.

Donnelly still welcomed the message from the pope as a step in “a long journey toward full equality and affirmation.”

aguffey@chicagotribune.com