NYT WORLD: Pope Francis Says Homosexuality Is Not a Crime
By Elisabetta Povoledo
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: January 25, 2023 at 02:00AM
“Being homosexual is not a crime,” Francis said in the interview, adding that God loves all his children just as they are. Francis called on all countries with laws criminalizing homosexuality — 67 of them in total, including nearly a dozen that have the death penalty, he noted — to undo those laws. “That’s wrong. It’s very wrong. I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against,” he said. Several of the countries are in Africa, which the pope will visit next week.
Asked whether the church should work toward repealing the laws, Francis said, “Yes, yes, they have to do it, they have to do it.”
Francis said there needed to be a distinction between sin and a crime when it came to homosexuality. The Catholic Church considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and a sin, but believes that people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity.
“First, let us distinguish sin from crime,” Francis said during the 75-minute interview conducted on Tuesday in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel he calls home. “But it is also a sin to lack charity with one another.”
He also called on bishops who support laws that punish or discriminate against the L.G.B.T.Q. community to undergo a “process of conversion” and instead apply “tenderness.”
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By Elisabetta Povoledo
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: January 25, 2023 at 02:00AM
In an interview with The Associated Press, the pope said the church should do more to end laws that criminalize same-sex relations.
ROME — Pope Francis condemned “unjust” laws that criminalize homosexuality in an interview with The Associated Press that was published on Wednesday, adding that the Roman Catholic Church should do more to put an end to such legislation and that bishops should welcome L.G.B.T.Q. people into the church, especially in countries where such laws exist.“Being homosexual is not a crime,” Francis said in the interview, adding that God loves all his children just as they are. Francis called on all countries with laws criminalizing homosexuality — 67 of them in total, including nearly a dozen that have the death penalty, he noted — to undo those laws. “That’s wrong. It’s very wrong. I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against,” he said. Several of the countries are in Africa, which the pope will visit next week.
Asked whether the church should work toward repealing the laws, Francis said, “Yes, yes, they have to do it, they have to do it.”
Francis said there needed to be a distinction between sin and a crime when it came to homosexuality. The Catholic Church considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and a sin, but believes that people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity.
“First, let us distinguish sin from crime,” Francis said during the 75-minute interview conducted on Tuesday in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel he calls home. “But it is also a sin to lack charity with one another.”
He also called on bishops who support laws that punish or discriminate against the L.G.B.T.Q. community to undergo a “process of conversion” and instead apply “tenderness.”
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/world/europe/pope-francis-homosexuality.html
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