EXPLAINER: How can Catholic priests bless same-sex unions?

ROME (AP) — The Vatican document explicitly saying Catholic priests can bless same-sex unions lays out the conditions for how such blessings can and cannot involve. The overall goal is to make it abundantly clear to the couple and those around them that the blessing is not a liturgical or sacramental ritual, and that it in no way resembles a marriage. This is because the Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong sacramental union between a man and woman. Nothing has changed about the church’s position on marriage, its firm opposition to gay marriage, or its belief that any extramarital sex — gay or straight — is sinful.