Pope Francis to LGBTQ+ Catholics: God Does Not Disown You
Outreach.He asked the pope what was most important for LGBTQ+ people to know about God, and the “God is Father” comment came in response to that.
The second question was what he would like LGBTQ+ people to know about the church, and Francis suggested reading Acts of the Apostles, a book in the New Testament. “There they will find the image of the living church,” the pope said.The third question was on what the pope would say to LGBTQ+ people who have experienced rejection by the church.
Francis replied that any rejection was from “people in the church,” not the church itself. “The church is a mother and calls together all her children,” he wrote, recommending that LGBTQ+ people consider a biblical parable of those invited to the feast, including “the just, the sinners, the rich and the poor, etc.”Martin published the queries and responses without comment.
In advocating for a more welcoming church, he has asserted he is not challenging Catholic doctrine. That doctrine holds that same-sex attraction is a disorder and that acting on it is a sin, and that gender is fixed at birth and immutable.Over the course of Francis’s papacy, his words have alternately encouraged and frustrated LGBTQ+ Catholics and their allies.
