AP ||
Pope Francis urged parents on Wednesday not to condemn their children if they are gay, in his latest gesture of outreach to the LGBTQ community which has long been marginalized by the Catholic hierarchy.
Francis spoke off the cuff during his weekly Wednesday general audience dedicated to the figure of St. Joseph, the father of Jesus.
Francis said he was thinking in particular about parents who are confronted with “sad” situations in their children’s lives.
Citing parents who have to cope with children who are sick, imprisoned or who get killed in car accidents, Francis added:
“Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude.”
“Never condemn a child,” he said.
Official church teaching calls for gay men and lesbians to be respected and loved, but considers homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered.”
Francis, though, has sought to make the church more welcoming to gays, most famously with his 2013 comment “Who am I to judge?”
