Gay Catholics Rejoice as Pope Approves Same-Sex Blessings — But 'This Is Just a First Step' (Exclusive)

"Oh my God, he actually did it!" says jubilant Catholic Michael Pettinger. "Now s---'s really going to hit the fan."

A ripple turned into a tsunami in the Catholic community Monday when Pope Francis made clear that Catholic priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples.

“My first response was, ‘Oh my God, he actually did it!’” Michael Pettinger, the co-chair of the Gay Men and Religious Program at American Academy of Religion in New York City, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “My second thought was, ‘Now s---'s going to hit the fan.”

Pettinger says he spends a lot of time on "Catholic X" (formerly Twitter), and social media was lighting up with the news after months of speculation.

“There was a lot of gnashing of teeth and talk of stepping into the abyss,” Pettinger, 62, says. “But for those of us who are queer and Catholic, there was a lot of jubilation. And there was also caution that this is just a first step from a church that has taken great pains to say same-sex unions aren’t really marriages.”

According to a document that the Vatican’s doctrine office released on Monday, the 87-year-old pontiff believes allowing same-sex couples to be blessed is “as an expression of the Church’s maternal heart.”

Related: Pope Francis Condemns Anti-Gay Laws Around the World: 'Being Homosexual Is Not a Crime'

The announcement comes two months after the pope’s initial response to questions formally submitted by five cardinals about the matter. In October, he indicated that he would be open to some Catholic priests blessing same-sex unions.

“God never turns away anyone who approaches him!” the document stated. “Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. … It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”

Catholic Richard Saenz, 42, an attorney in New York City, tells PEOPLE that the pope’s announcement filled him with “a sense of love and understanding.”

He recalls his husband proposing to him on Christmas Eve 2014, when he went to mass with his mother, “a devout Colombian woman," and then had dinner with family.

“To have our union blessed, and so many other happy couples, is a huge step towards true equality," Saenz says. “Our family and our government recognize our marriage, and the pope’s announcement means we are also part of God’s love — though we never had any doubts of that.”

However, the document stresses that any "rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage...and what contradicts it are inadmissible."

Related: Pope Francis Reveals He Wrote a Resignation Letter Years Ago in Case He Needs to Step Down

In the declaration, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández stated that the new rule didn’t amend “the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage," and that it didn’t allow for liturgical rites that resemble the sacrament of marriage.

According to the document, the declaration is intended to allow those seeking the blessing “to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better” and live with greater faithfulness.

“The Church welcomes all who approach God with humble hearts, accompanying them with those spiritual aids that enable everyone to understand and realize God’s will fully in their existence," the text read.

Cait Gardiner, 21, tells PEOPLE they were “incredibly excited” and almost immediately shared the good news with another friend who was raised Catholic but left the church because of anti-LGBTQ stances.

Will their friend return to the church?

“It opens up the possibility, which was previously a closed door,” says Gardiner, who is now more optimistic about the church's future.

“Allowing for the blessing of same-sex couples will retain more of the goodness of our faith while rejecting the evils of discrimination and exclusion,” says Gardiner, a Maryland youth member of DignityUSA, an organization that "works for respect and justice for people of all sexual orientations, genders, and gender identities — especially gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons — in the Catholic Church and the world through education, advocacy, and support," per their mission statement.

“I look forward to continued progress and greater inclusion," Gardiner adds.

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In October 2020, the pope declared his support for the civil unions of same-sex couples in comments featured in the documentary Francesco.

In March 2021, the Vatican said the Catholic community should welcome gay people with "respect and sensitivity,” though their marriages and unions would not receive the same response.

Making headlines again this past January, Pope Francis told the Associated Press that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unfair,” adding, "We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are.”

Pettinger says he studies the history of the church and understands it moves very slowly, because to do otherwise would “cause it to split into a million pieces.”

“But as a human being, you only get one life and would like to live as a gay man in a church that understands you and loves you exactly how you are,” Pettinger says. “Those of us who are queer and Catholic want to live in a church that knows us, loves us and blesses us exactly as we are.”

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