Pope Francis gave an interview to the Associated Press. He spoke about the church’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.
The Pope said that he doesn’t approve of laws that criminalize homosexuality and that God loves all his children. Although the Church considers homosexuality a sin, the Pope doesn’t believe it should be illegal.
He explained that bishops and priests in the Catholic Church should welcome LGBTQ+ individuals and they shouldn’t be shunned or criticized. The Pope acknowledged that many Catholic bishops and priests in the world support the criminalization of homosexuality. He said church personnel need to treat everyone with dignity.
According to the Human Dignity Trust, more than 65 countries have laws against homosexuality, and 11 have harsh punishments, even the death penalty. In most countries, extreme laws are not enforced with severe consequences, but every day, gay and trans people suffer harassment, violence, and stigmatization.
Eleven US states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite these types of laws being declared unconstitutional in 2003 by the Supreme Court. The states include Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
For a long time, the United Nations has advocated for an end to the criminalization of homosexuality, saying that such laws violate privacy and freedom from discrimination. The UN also says that countries with such laws do not protect people’s human rights regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Many African and Middle Eastern countries have laws against homosexuality.
Although the Pope said homosexuality is not a crime, he still supports the Catholic church’s teachings that sex between people of the same sex is “intrinsically disordered.”
