Pope Francis called on Catholic bishops to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.
Speaking to the AP in the Vatican hotel where he lives, Pope Francis said,
“We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity.”
“…people with homos3xual tendencies must be welcomed, not marginalized…”
However, despite calling for LGBTQ people to be welcomed and treated with dignity, the Pope insisted that homos3xuality is still a sin.
Pope Francis articulated the position:
“It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first, let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.
Although the Pope’s remarks only addressed homos3xuality and did not expressly mention transgender or nonbinary individuals, supporters of broader LGBTQ inclusiveness in the Catholic Church lauded the Pope’s remarks as a significant step forward.
New Ways Ministry, a Catholic LGBTQ advocacy group, said
“The pope is reminding the church that the way people treat one another in the social world is of much greater moral importance than what people may possibly do in the privacy of a bedroom,”
In 2020, Pope Francis endorsed same-s3x civil unions for the first time as Pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which had its premiere at the Rome Film Festival.
“Homos3xuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable because of it,” Pope Francis said in the film, of his approach to pastoral care.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way, they are legally covered,” the Pope said. “I stood up for that.”
However, Pope Francis came under fire in 2021 after seemingly backtracking on his views about marriage following a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office that said the church cannot bless same-s3x unions.
