With “Fiducia Supplicans,” Pope Francis turns the church’s attention to the pastoral needs of same-sex couples. We can chart this development over the past two years.

“We will all have to become accustomed to accepting the fact that if a priest gives this type of simple blessing, he is not a heretic,” a new press release from the Vatican’s doctrine office states.

Global reaction among bishops to the Vatican’s declaration that priests may now bless same-sex couples appears most divergent in some European and African nations.

Some Catholics see the Vatican declaration as a step forward for L.G.B.T. people in the church. Others are worried about the possibility of schism.

“This is an early Christmas present for the Catholic Church and for so many people who have felt that God really isn’t accompanying them,” Father James Martin says on this episode of ‘Inside the Vatican.’

The Vatican’s decision to authorize the blessing of homosexual and remarried couples has triggered mixed reactions.