Pope clarifies homosexuality and sin comments in note | AP News
ROME (AP) Pope Francis has clarified his recent comments about homosexuality and sin, saying he was merely referring to official Catholic moral teaching that teaches that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin.
And in a note Friday, Francis recalled that even that black-and-white teaching is subject to circumstances that might eliminate the sin altogether.
Francis first made the comments in an interview Jan. 24 with The Associated Press, in which he declared that laws criminalizing homosexuality were unjust and that being homosexual is not a crime.
As he often does, Francis then imagined a conversation with someone who raised the matter of the church s official teaching, which states that homosexual acts are sinful, or intrinsically disordered.
Fine, but first let s distinguish between a sin and a crime, Francis said in the pretend conversation. It s also a sin to lack charity with one another.
ADVERTISEMENTHis comments calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality were hailed by LGBTQ advocates as a milestone that would help end harassment and violence against LGBTQ persons. But his reference to sin raised questions about whether he believed that merely being gay was itself a sin.
via apnews.com
I hope this is clear now to everyone.