Pope Francis lls for end to anti-gay laws and LGBTQ+ wele om church | Pope Francis | The Guardian

Contents:

• POPE FRANCIS SAYS HOMOSEXUALY "IS NOT A CRIME," BUT GAY SEX IS "A S"
• THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS
• 21 GAY POPES, CARDINALS AND ASSORTED CATHOLIC LEADERS.
• SIX THGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT POPE FRANCIS AND GAY CIVIL UNNS
• IS POPE FRANCIS GAY? – A TIMELE OF HIS PRO-GAY RERD
• POPE FRANCIS LLS FOR END TO ANTI-GAY LAWS AND LGBTQ+ WELE OM CHURCH
• POPE FRANCIS' LGBTQ MENTS ARE NOT SURPRISG BUT SCERE, GAY VATIN ADVISER SAYS
• EXCLUSIVE: TAYLOR MARSHALL SAYS POPE FRANCIS MAY CHANGE POSN OF CATHOLIC CHURCH ON GAY MARRIAGE
• SUPPORT YOUR CHILDREN IF THEY ARE GAY, POPE TELLS PARENTS

POPE FRANCIS SAYS HOMOSEXUALY "IS NOT A CRIME," BUT GAY SEX IS "A S"

The Italian news magaze Vatin Insir, as well as other Italian media outlets, reported that Francis spoke about gay men the semary to the Italian Bishops’ Conference durg a closed-door ssn. That stance puts Francis le wh his precsor, Pope Benedict XVI, who issued a document 2005 statg that men wh “eply rooted homosexual tennci” shouldn’t be allowed to study for the prithood. The two reali seem to be ntradictory if we nsir that Francis has exprsed publicly and shown his meetgs wh gays and transgenr persons an openns to who they are and how they live.

Yet, the official teachg of the Catholic Church on beg gay is that “the homosexual clatn is objectively disorred” and same-sex upl nnot marry the Catholic Church. So while Francis’ words and gtur sometim seem to give the msage, “It’s OK that you’re gay, ” that msag seem to be ntradicted by the l of the church he erns.

“I have acpanied people wh homosexual tennci and also wh homosexual practic, ” Francis said durg an -flight prs nference returng om Azerbaijan October, 2016.

THE POPE’S ‘SHOCKG’ STATEMENT ON GAY MARRIAGE IS G AN UPROAR AMONG CATHOLICS

Francis’ long history of makg siar ments support of LGBTQ people’s digny, spe the church’s rejectn of homosexualy, has provoked plenty of cricism om some Catholics. Durg the first year of Francis’ papacy, when asked about LGBTQ people, he famoly replied, “If someone is gay and he search for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge? Image source, RtersImage ptn, Pope Francis' statements are a parture om prev ments about LGBT rightsPope Francis has said that he thks same-sex upl should be allowed to have "civil unns" ma the ments, which observers say are his cleart remarks yet on gay relatnships, a documentary directed by Evgeny Afeevsky.

" He add that he "stood up for that", apparently referrg to his time as Archbishop of Buenos Air when, although opposg same-sex marriag law, he supported some legal protectns for same-sex film Franc, about the life and work of Pope Francis, premiered as part of the Rome Film well as the Pope's ments on civil unns, the film also shows him enuragg two gay men to attend church wh their three Francis's bgrapher, Aten Ivereigh, told the BBC he was "not surprised" by the latt ments. "Unr current Catholic doctre, gay relatnships are referred to as "viant behavur" 2003, the Vatin's doctral body, the Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah, said that "rpect for homosexual persons nnot lead any way to approval of homosexual behavur or to legal regnn of homosexual unns" words but no sign of doctral changeThe remarks have set tongu waggg among Vatin-watchers - and they mark Francis's cleart support for the issue sce beg Pope.

As archbishop of Buenos Air before beg Pope, he was a stnch opponent of gay marriage, which was legalised Argenta 2010, and stead advoted civil unns for homosexual upl. Every person needs a male father and a female mother that n help them shape their inty" ptn, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?

21 GAY POPES, CARDINALS AND ASSORTED CATHOLIC LEADERS.

" he 2014 was reported that Pope Francis had exprsed support for civil unns for same-sex partners an terview, but the Holy See's prs office nied 2018, Pope Francis said he was "worried" about homosexualy the clergy, and that was "a ser matter" on this story. Rome — Pope Francis has lled laws crimalizg homosexualy as fundamentally "unfair, " makg clear that the md of the lear of the Catholic Church, "beg homosexual is not a crime.

SIX THGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT POPE FRANCIS AND GAY CIVIL UNNS

Catholic Church teachg says that gay people mt be weled to the church and treated wh rpect and kdns, spe the fact that homosexual acts are nsired "trsilly disorred. Stat still have laws agast sodomy, spe the Supreme Court clarg them unnstutnal pope said that some bishops om untri that crimalize homosexualy support the laws bee they're part of the lol culture, and he lled on those bishops to unrgo a procs of "nversn, " orr to wele LGBQT people to their mistry "wh tenrns. Followg Pope Francis’s announcement clarg support for civil unn laws for same-sex upl, which breaks wh tradnal Catholic valu that oppose homosexual relatnships, the lear has garnered both cricism and support om people all over the world.

Most recently, NBC reports that retired Philippe Bishop Arturo Bast mented that he “had very ser doubts about the moral rrectns” of the Pope’s stance on legalizg gay relatnships. John XII (955-964)This church lear would mol his papacy on the le of Roman Emperor Elagabol, a potentially transgenr liberte, and would host gay i the papal palace, acrdg to historian Wayne Dyn’s Encyclopedia of Homosexualy.

Benedict IX (1033-1045; 1047-1048)Consired by many to be the first “primarily homosexual” pope, Benedict would be acced of turng the Vatin to a “male brothel, ” acrdg to rearcher Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher. Boniface VIII (1294-1303)Kg Philip IV of France, an enemy of the pope, would dispatch spi to gather rmatn on Boniface, and based on reports om Roman aristocrats, he would publicly acce the pope of sodomy, acrdg to Who’s Who Gay and Lbian History: From Antiquy to World War II. John XXII (1316-1334)While there’s ls bountiful evince than wh other pop, John XXII ma the list of gay pop clud Noel Gar’s 1964 tome Jonathan to Gi: The Homsexual History.

IS POPE FRANCIS GAY? – A TIMELE OF HIS PRO-GAY RERD

This may have been an suatn about a predisposn toward fancy cloth and fe thgs, or uld have been a timatn of the church lear’s homosexualy, the latter of which earned Pl II k Arno Karlen’s Sexualy and Homosexualy.

But Sixt, born Franc lla Rovere, also would be known for favorism, cludg elevatg his male lover (and nephew) Petro Riaro to Cardal, acrdg to Louis Crompton’s Homosexualy and Civilizatn.

Cardal Francis Joseph Spellman (1939-1967)The rdal, who was archbishop of New York at the time of his ath, was surround for years by mors of his homosexualy, wh bgrapher John Cooney statg he terviewed at least four dividuals wh personal knowledge of Spellman’s leangs, acrdg to journalist Michelangelo Signorile. Pl VI (1963-1978)The 20th-century pope faced wrten accatns om profsor Fran Bellegradi, a Vatin sir at the start of Pl’s papacy, that mors of homosexualy circulated while he served as archbishop of Milan. Francis has been thkg about civil unns for gay upl at least sce 2010, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Air and marriage for same-sex upl was unr nsiratn Argenta.

POPE FRANCIS LLS FOR END TO ANTI-GAY LAWS AND LGBTQ+ WELE OM CHURCH

Supporters of gay rights wh the Catholic muny, such as Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Mistry, cheered the pope’s words bee reversed earlier Vatin statements agast any legal regnn of same-sex relatnships. Conservative Catholics are surprised to see Francis supportg civil unns when is clear that Pop John Pl and Benedict opposed any “legal regnn of homosexual unns.

The pope is not changg church teachg on gay sex, no more than the church changed s teachg on divorce and remarriage when gave up fightg divorce legislatn the 20th century. But he also aga raised the issue of a gay lobby at the Vatin, sayg “lobbyg by orientatn” is a problem, before jokg, “You see a lot wrten about the gay lobby. “In Buenos Air I ed to receive letters om homosexual persons who are ‘socially wound’ bee they tell me that they feel like the church has always nmned them.

Bishops’ 2006 document, Mistry to Persons wh Homosexual Inclatns: Guil for Pastoral Care, that upholds the fn that a homosexual orientatn is objectively disorred. What we spoke about was how a fay that has a homosexual son or dghter, how n they te him or her, how n they raise him or her, how n this fay be helped to move forward this suatn which is a ltle unprecented. March 21, 2015: Pope Francis viss a prison  Napl, havg lunch wh some 90 prisoners, 10 of whom were om the ward which holds mat who are gay, transgenr, or who have HIV/AIDS.

POPE FRANCIS' LGBTQ MENTS ARE NOT SURPRISG BUT SCERE, GAY VATIN ADVISER SAYS

July 11, 2015: While on an apostolic vis to Paraguay, Pope Francis met wh a group of civil lears, cludg Simón Cazal, a married gay activist who leads the group SOMOSGAY. Gil Martez said Pope Francis told him, “I would love to vis and talk to gay and lbian people and please tell the gays to pray for me and I shall pray for them.

Afterwards, Vatin spokperson Feri Lombardi said that the le “whout excludg anyone” (omted the Vatin’s English translatn of the hoy) “would also clu people wh homosexual tennci. 2016: Durg a New Ways Mistry event, Yayo Grassi, a gay former stunt of the pope’s, reveals that durg the marriage equaly bate Argenta, the future pope sent him an email which said, “There is no place for homophobia the Church. July 10, 2017: Through a letter om a papal ai, Pope Francis sends a ngratulatory blsg letter to a Brazilian gay uple on the ocsn of the baptism of their three adopted children.

EXCLUSIVE: TAYLOR MARSHALL SAYS POPE FRANCIS MAY CHANGE POSN OF CATHOLIC CHURCH ON GAY MARRIAGE

He suggted that “If we were nvced that [people irregular suatns] are children of God, thgs would change a lot, ” but also affirmed himself as a “nservative” who believ “ is an ngy to speak of homosexual marriage. Pope Francis has cricised laws that crimalise homosexualy as “unjt”, sayg God lov all his children jt as they are, and llg on Catholic bishops who support the laws to wele LGBTQ+ people to the church. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops some parts of the world support laws that crimalise homosexualy or discrimate agast LGBTQ+ people, and he himself referred to the issue terms of “s”.

Gay rights advot say the antiquated laws are ed to jtify harassment, and pot to new legislatn, such as the “Don’t say gay” law Florida, which forbids stctn on sexual orientatn and genr inty om krgarten up to third gra, as evince of ntued efforts to margalise LGBTQ+ UN has repeatedly lled for an end to laws crimalisg homosexualy outright, sayg they vlate rights to privacy and eedom om discrimatn and are a breach of untri’ obligatns unr ternatnal law to protect the human rights of all people, regardls of their sexual orientatn or genr inty.

Some Catholic bishops have strongly upheld them as nsistent wh Vatin teachg, while others have lled for them to be overturned as a vlatn of basic human Tuday, Francis said there need to be a distctn between a crime and a s wh regard to homosexualy. But he has ma reachg out to LGBTQ+ people a hallmark of his pope’s ments didn’t specifilly addrs transgenr or nonbary people, jt homosexualy, but advot of greater LGBTQ+ cln the Catholic Church hailed the pope’s ments as a momento advance. In his first terview sce the ath of former Pope Benedict XVI, Francis told the Associated Prs that laws crimalizg homosexualy are "unjt" and that Catholic bishops should apply "tenrns" and help ease discrimatn by welg LGBTQ people to the church.

SUPPORT YOUR CHILDREN IF THEY ARE GAY, POPE TELLS PARENTS

Cz says the church's sistence that homosexualy is "s, " a posn embraced by the pope, is "shameful, " although Cz says the pope appears to be tryg to shift the church's relatnship wh the LGBTQ muny.

And he shifts this, you know, wordg, like you said , Leila, but he highlights how important is that 's more sful, you know, havg thgs agast your neighbor or beg uncharable, or crimal towards the gay muny, that's sful. What angered Italian LGBTQ cizens was what they nsired undue terference by the Vatin s attempt to stall a ntroversial bill beg bated the Italian Senate that would crimalize homophobia.