Pope Francis met with parents of LGBTIQ*s last week and expressed his support for homosexual people.

Lesbians and gays are also “children of God”, said Pope Francis on 16 September during a brief audience with members of the Tenda di Gionata association. God and the Catholic Church would love homosexuals “the way they are”, the Pope assured the approximately 40 parents of LGBTIQ* children present.

Tenda di Gionata (“Jonathan’s Tent”) is a parent initiative of homo- and transsexual children and was founded in 2018 with the aim of supporting LGBTIQ* Christians and their families. It was the first time that the association was convened for an audience with the Pope.

After the public audience, Maria Grassi, vice-president of Tenda di Gionata, presented the Pope with a rainbow T-shirt with the Bible quotation “In love there is no fear” (1 John 4,18 ) and the book Genitori fortunati, a collection of stories of Catholic parents with LGBTIQ* children. Maria Grassi was visibly touched after the meeting. In an interview she said:

“He told us that the Lord and the Church love our children because they are all children of God. For me and for all of us it was a great light after difficult and dark years”.

Closing ranks with the conservatives

Francis may think cosmopolitan and progressive. But whenever it comes to concrete things, he remains steadfastly conservative. Earlier this year he is said to have said that lesbians and gays have no right to marry in principle. Nor were gay men suitable for the priesthood.

No to abolishing celibacy and condemning euthanasia, so Francis makes peace with the conservatives

As was announced yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has also rejected the abolition of celibacy. Obviously Francis is not always the “revolutionary” Pope in matters of church doctrine that many would like to see – or he cannot be, so as not to stir up conservatives in the church and avoid a split. Nevertheless, we agree with the Roman philosopher Seneca and think:

“The greater part of progress is the desire to progress.”

(Seneca -*etwa in year 1 in Corduba; † 65 AD near Rome)

Please follow and like us: