homosexuality

Jesuit Father James Martin said that above all, “Pope Francis has, through words and gestures, helped to open up the conversation around the Catholic Church and LGBTQ people,” marking “a sea change in the church’s approach to this community.”

Pope Francis reaffirmed that homosexuality is not a crime, and that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin, in a written response to a request for clarification about his remarks during a recent interview with the Associated Press.

The papacy is not a dictatorship, he said, and, besides, “criticism helps you to grow and improve things.”

The AP interview with the pope also covered topics ranging from his health to the ongoing clerical sexual abuse crisis and from homosexuality to potential policies for regulating the retirement of a pope who renounces his office.

The German bishops’ meeting with officials of the Roman Curia was not a “showdown,” but it did make clear the Vatican’s strong concerns about Germany’s Synodal Path, especially regarding its support for official ministries for women and for a change in church teaching about homosexuality, said the president of the bishops’ conference.

On Nov. 14-18, Bishop Dieser and other German bishops will be at the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis and other Vatican officials for their “ad limina” visits, periodic visits to report on the status of their dioceses.

Catholic workers in Zambia have been conducting a campaign to raise awareness of LGBTQ trends that seem to be increasing in society and becoming an acceptable norm.

While the Flemish-speaking bishops of Belgium have authorized the prayer, the Vatican said last year that the Church “does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless” same-sex unions.