News Desk
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has criticised laws that criminalise homosexuality as “unjust”, though he maintained that homosexuality was still sinful.
During a recent interview with The Associated Press, the pontiff called on Catholic bishops who support anti-homosexuality laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.
Francis said that although Catholic teaching considers homosexual acts a “sin,” but being homosexual was not a “crime”, adding that there was a need to distinguish between the two. He said, for example, that lack of charity with one another was also a sin. He added that bishops in particular needed to undergo a process of change to recognise the dignity of everyone.
Francis on anti-LGBTQ laws
Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church should make efforts to end those laws in some countries that criminalize homosexuality.
During his first interview since the passing away of former Pope Benedict, Francis also spoke about his health, his critics and the future of the papacy.
Asked about the criticism on him from conservative cardinals and bishops following Benedict’s death, Francis acknowledged that the knives were out, but he appeared unruffled.
Some Catholic bishops have strongly upheld anti-homosexuality laws as consistent with Vatican teaching that considers homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered”, while others have called for them to be overturned for being a violation of basic human dignity.
