Pope Francis says people who criminalise homosexual acts are ‘wrong’, after pontiff came under fire for saying homosexuality is ‘not a crime, but a sin’
- A letter written by Pope Francis, 86, claims his comments referred to Catholic moral teaching, which states that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin
- Pope Francis, appointed in 2013, has said criminalising homosexuality is wrong
Pope Francis has said that people who criminalise homosexual acts are ‘wrong’ in a letter published on Saturday.
The letter written to a Jesuit priest comes after the Pope said earlier this week that homosexuality is ‘not a crime’ but that ‘it’s a sin’. It was written to clarify his comments in the interview with the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday.
The letter aims ‘to clarify that it (homosexuality) is not a crime, in order to stress that criminalisation is neither good nor just’, it reads.
‘When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,’ he wrote.
Pope Francis, 86, (pictured) has said that people who criminalise homosexual acts are ‘wrong’
The 86-year-old was responding to a letter from US priest James Martin, who asked for clarity following the interview. Written in Spanish, it read: ‘I would tell whoever wants to criminalise homosexuality that they are wrong.’
The letter was translated into English and published by the website Outreach, a Catholic LGBTQ resource of which Mr Martin is editor.
In the interview on Wednesday, Pope Francis said: ‘It’s not a crime … but it’s a sin’. He added: ‘It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another.’
In his letter to Martin, Francis said his comments about ‘sin’ were referring to overall moral teaching within the Catholic Church.
‘When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,’ he wrote.
‘Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault.’
‘As you can see, I was repeating something in general. I should have said ‘It is a sin, as is any sexual act outside of marriage.’
The issue of homosexuality has caused a rift in the Catholic Church between modernisers and conservatives.
Pope Francis has stirred controversy since his appointment in 2013 with his relatively liberal attitude towards sexual orientation.
Although he has often received gay people and instructed they must be welcomed into the Church, he remains in line with Catholic teaching on marriage – that it is between a man and a woman in order to procreate.
Pope Francis has stirred controversy since his appointment in 2013 with his relatively liberal attitude towards sexual orientation
In a June 2021 letter to Mr Marin, Pope Francis thanked the priest for his work in reaching out to LGBTQ people writing that God ‘loves each of his children’.
Just months beforehand, the Vatican had reaffirmed that it considered homosexuality ‘a sin’ and that gay people were unable to receive the sacrament of marraige.
His latest comments come ahead of a trip to Africa next week, where the criminalisation of homosexuality is commonplace. He plans to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan during a six-day visit.
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