Can Pope Benedict really have said “You can’t bless sin” in relation to gay marriages? Let us hope not, because it would be bizarre. There are plenty of reasons why it would be odd, of which the most obvious is “look at the things we do bless!”

Apparently we can bless military activities and equipment (and personnel) even before we know whether they will be used in a “just” war or in a rather more common “not very just” war. I think I do believe that, at least in theory, there can be genuinely just wars – but that nonetheless all possible efforts should be exercised in order to avoid them; and that blessing warships as you launch them, for example, is morally very dubious indeed, but is certainly endorsed and practised by the Church.

We bless (sinful) places of work where they do not offer just wages. We bless wedding rings made from exploitative (sinful) gold, extravagant (sinful) weddings, while people around the world starve and the frequent (sinful) marriages of heterosexual couples who are already pregnant or at least sexually active, or live in countries which do not uphold the legal equality of both partners. We are constantly blessing sin. And we should; it needs it.