Pope Francis has formally permitted priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a significant shift in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it, AP News is reporting

The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released on Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to 2 conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage

The new document repeats that condition and elaborates on it, reaffirming that marriage is a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman and it stresses that blessings in question must be non-liturgical in nature and should not be conferred at the same time as a civil union, using set rituals or even with the clothing and gestures that belong in a wedding