VATICAN CITY The Pope Francis criticizes the laws that criminalize them homosexuality as “unjust”. In an interview with the Associated Press news agency last Tuesday, the 24th, he said God loves all his children just as they are and urged Catholic bishops who support conflicting laws to take people in LGBT+ at Catholic Church. According to the Argentine Pope, homosexuality is not a crime but a sin.
“Being gay is not a crime,” Francisco said during the interview.
The pope also acknowledged that in some parts of the world, Catholic bishops support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the community. LGBT+who labeled homosexuality a “sin”. However, he attributed these attitudes to cultural contexts and said that bishops in particular must also go through a process of change in order to recognize the dignity of all.
“The bishop also has a conversion process,” he said, adding that they “need to show tenderness, please, tenderness as God has with each of us.”
:quality(80)/cloudfrontuseast1.images.arcpublishing.com/estadao/F2XKDRYUVRBXHBCCTQXEMPHIRI.jpg "Pope Francis: \"Being gay is not a crime but a sin\" Brasil Estadão 3")
Pope Francis says in an interview that being gay is not a crime but a sin. Photo: Andrew Medichini/AP
About 67 countries or jurisdictions around the world criminalize consensual samesex relationships, and 11 of them can carry or carry the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which is working to end those laws.
Experts point out that laws, even when not enforced, contribute to harassment, stigma and violence against people. LGBT+.
Francis also said during the interview that when it comes to homosexuality, there needs to be a distinction between criminality and delinquency sin.
“Being gay is not a crime,” he said. “It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Well, first let’s distinguish between sin and crime. But lack of charity is also a sin.”
THE catholic teaching points out that while homosexuals should be treated with respect, homosexual acts are “intrinsically disturbed”. Francis has not changed this position despite reaching out to the community LGBT+ one of the hallmarks of his papacy.
In the United States, more than a dozen states still have antibuggy laws, despite being declared unconstitutional by a Supreme Court ruling in 2003. LGBT+ rights advocates say these outdated laws are being used to harass homosexuals, citing new rules like Florida’s socalled “Don’t Say Gay” rule, which regulate sexual orientation and gender identity education in kindergarten and bans in third grade, as evidence of continued efforts to marginalize people LGBT+.
The United Nations has repeatedly called for the repeal of laws criminalizing homosexuality as violating the right to privacy and nondiscrimination, and failing to meet these countries’ obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Such laws are common in Africa and the Middle East, dating back to British colonial times or inspired by Islamic law. Some Catholic bishops have vigorously defended them as in line with Vatican teaching, which views homosexual activity as “properly disorderly,” while others have called for its repeal as a violation of basic human dignity.
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Francis went on to say those rules were “unfair” and said the Catholic Church can and must work to end them. “They need it, they need it,” he said.
Francis quotes the catechism of Catholic Church to point out that homosexuals should be welcomed and respected and not marginalized or discriminated against.
“We are all children of God and God loves us as we are and with the power that each of us fights for our dignity,” said Francis, who spoke to the AP from the Vatican Hotel where he lives.
In 2019, Francis was scheduled to release a statement against the criminalization of homosexuality during a meeting with human rights groups studying the impact of these laws and socalled “conversion therapies.”
Since his famous 2013 statement “Who shall I judge?” When asked about an allegedly gay priest, Francis continued to repeatedly and publicly address the gay and trans communities. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he advocated providing legal protections to samesex couples as an alternative to supporting gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids.
Despite his reach, Francis drew criticism from the Catholic community LGBT+ through a 2021 Vatican Magisterium decree that the Catholic Church cannot bless samesex partnerships “because God cannot bless sin,” according to the AP.
In 2008, the Vatican refused to sign a United Nations declaration that homosexuality should not be considered a crime, complaining that the text went beyond the original draft and also included sections on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. , which he considered problematic. .
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In a statement at the time, the Vatican urged countries to avoid “unfair discrimination” against homosexuals and end sanctions against them. /AP