Catholic church open to LGBT people, says Pope Francis.
Pope Francis stated on Sunday that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including homosexuals, and that it has a responsibility to accompany them on a personal spiritual path while adhering to its rules.
Francis told reporters on the plane back to Rome from Portugal that his health was fine after undergoing surgery for an abdominal hernia in June.
He stated that his stitches had been removed but that he would need to wear an abdominal band for another two or three months to strengthen his muscles.
Flying back from the World Youth Day Catholic festival in Portugal, the 86-year-old Pope appeared in good spirits as he took questions for about half an hour at his customary freewheeling post-trip press conference while seated at the front of the reporters’ section in the plane’s rear.
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One reporter reminded him that during the trip, he said the Church was open to “everyone, everyone, everyone,” and asked if it was not contradictory that some, such as women and homosexuals, did not have the same rights and could not receive certain sacraments.
This was an obvious reference to women being barred from becoming priests through the sacrament of Holy Orders, as well as same-sex couples being barred from contracting marriage, which is also a sacrament.
“The Church is open to everyone but there are laws that regulate life inside the church,” he said.
“According to the legislation, they cannot partake in (some) sacraments. This does not mean that it is closed. Each person encounters God in their own way inside the Church,” he said.
As the Catholic church is open to LGBT people, the pope stated that Church ministers must accompany all people, including those who do not follow the rules, with the patience and love of a mother.
According to the Church, women cannot become priests because Jesus chose only men to be his apostles.
Although the Church does not permit same-sex marriage or blessings for same-sex couples, Francis supports civil legislation that grants same-sex couples rights in areas such as pensions, health insurance, and inheritance.
It teaches that homosexual acts are sinful, but same-sex attraction is not.
Francis has been trying to make the Church more welcoming and less condemning, including to members of the LGBT community, since the beginning of his papacy, but without changing teachings that urge those with same-sex attraction to be chaste.
During a stop in Portugal, he told a crowd that the Church had room for everyone, “including those who make mistakes, fall, or struggle,” and led the crowd in a chant of “Todos, todos, todos!” (Everyone, everyone, everyone!).
In another section of the news conference, referring to young people, he said: “Who among us has not made a moral error at some point in their lives?”
Since becoming Pope ten years ago, Francis has pushed a number of reforms, including giving more roles to women, particularly in high-ranking Vatican positions, but he must tread a fine line between appealing to more liberal believers and upsetting conservatives.
On the plane, he said he was inspired by what he saw at the World Youth Day Catholic festival in Portugal, particularly the orderly nature and size of the crowds.
On Sunday, approximately 1.5 million people attended his final Mass in a riverside park in the Portuguese capital. After attending a vigil there on Saturday night, many of the faithful slept outside in the sweltering heat.
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome, and the sovereign of the Vatican City State.
Pope Francis doesn’t have a wife, he is celibate.
Currently, Pope Francis is worth an estimated $16 million due to all the assets he enjoys from his position as the pope of the catholic church.
