The Pope clarifies that homosexual acts are a sin “as is every sexual act outside of marriage”

by time news

28/01/2023

Updated at 5:45 p.m.

Three days ago, Pope Francis openly criticized countries that apply laws that criminalize homosexual people, becoming the first pontiff to do so. Being gay “is not a crime,” he said. However, he did refer to homosexuality as “sin,” a controversial statement that he has now wanted to qualify. In a letter sent to priest James Martin, an American Jesuit who carries out his apostolate in the LGTBI community, the Pope explained that, for the morality of Catholic doctrine, homosexual acts are a sin “as it is any sexual act outside of marriage», not the condition homosexuality itself.

As suggested by Father Martin’s website ‘Outreach.faith’, where the letter has been published, Francis imagined a hypothetical conversation in which a person could object saying: “Being homosexual is a sin”, and the Pope suggested a response: “Lack of charity towards others is also a sin.”

In the letter, the Holy Father also indicates that “we must consider circumstances, which diminish or annul guilt“of homosexual acts. »We know well that Catholic morality, in addition to matter, values ​​freedom, intention; and this, for all kinds of sin«, he said.

With this response, Francis reiterated that his position, already repeated since the first interview with journalists on the return flight from Brazil in 2013 (“If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge them? ?»), is that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In the same way, he has ensured that homosexuality cannot be considered a “crime” because “all criminalization is not good or fair.” At this moment there are more than 50 countries that contemplate legal penalties for homosexuals and in some of them even the death penalty.



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