On Wednesday, Pope Francis stated that parents of LGBT children should not condemn them, but rather encourage them. He made unscripted statements to his weekly audience about the difficulties that parents sometimes experience when raising children. ” “parents who see different sexual orientations in their children and how to handle this, how to accompany their children, and not hide behind an attitude of condemnation,” Francis added.

Pope has stated that, while the Church does not support same-sex marriage, it really does support civil union laws that provide gay partners shared rights in areas like as pensions, health care, and inheritance.

Parishes and ministers in various countries, including as the United States and Germany, have begun to bless same-sex engagements in place of marriage, and there have been requests for bishops to de facto institutionalize them.

Conservatives in the 1.3 billion-member Church have said that the pope, who has issued letters of thanks to priests and nuns who serve to gay Catholics, is sending confusing messages about homosexuality, which is upsetting some of the faithful.

The Catholic Church holds that homosexuals should be treated with respect and dignity and that, while same-sex activities are evil, same-sex tendencies really aren’t.