Pope Francis issued guidance on Monday that allows priests to bless same-sex couples, in an effort to broaden “the classical understanding” of pastoral blessings.

As long as a couples don’t conflate a blessing with the ritual of marriage, “an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring” a blessing, the document says. The Vatican also reiterated in its guidance the long-held Catholic belief that marriage is a sacrament shared only between a man and a woman.

The Holy See’s new guidance doesn’t undercut “the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández claimed, but merely expands church teaching on who can receive blessings to be more welcoming.

The Vatican’s letter clarifies one Francis sent in October, which opened the door for same-sex blessings. Until Monday, the Church barred blessings on same-sex couples, as God “cannot bless sin.”