Homosexuality Is A Sin, Not A Crime Says Pope Francis

Pope Francis condemned “unjust” laws that criminalize homosexuality in an interview with the Associated Press published on Wednesday. The Roman Catholic Church, he said, should do more to put an end to such legislation and that bishops should welcome LGBTQ+ people into the church, especially in countries where such laws exist.

“Being homosexual is not a crime,” Francis said in the interview, adding that God loves all his children just as they are. Francis called on all countries with laws criminalizing homosexuality – 67 of them in total, including nearly a dozen that have the death penalty, he noted – to undo those laws. “That’s wrong. It’s very wrong. I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against,” he said.

Several of the countries with strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws are in Africa, which the pope will visit next week.

Asked whether the church should work toward repealing the laws, Francis said, “Yes, yes, they have to do it, they have to do it.”

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According to The New York Times, Francis said there needed to be a distinction between sin and a crime when it came to homosexuality. The Catholic Church considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and a sin, but believes that people in the LGBTQ+ community should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity.

“First, let us distinguish sin from crime,” Francis said during the 75-minute interview conducted on Tuesday in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel he calls home. “But it is also a sin to lack charity with one another.”

He called on bishops who support laws that punish or discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community to undergo a “process of conversion” and instead apply “tenderness.” Francis quoted the catechism of the church, which teaches that LGBTQ+ people should not be marginalized but welcomed.

The pope has made outreach to the LGBTQ+ community one of the pillars of his papacy. A few months after his election in 2013, he famously said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked during a papal flight from Brazil about priests who might be gay. In a 2020 documentary, he appeared to endorse same-sex civil unions. The Vatican later clarified that the pope believed that gay couples deserved civil protections, including legal rights and healthcare benefits, but that his comments had not marked a change in church doctrine.

In 2021, many in the LGBTQ+ community took Francis to task for a ruling issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith barring priests from blessing same-sex unions, calling such a blessing “not licit.”

Reaction to the pope’s call for decriminalization was immediate.

“Pope Francis’ historic call for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide is an immense step forward for LGBTQ people, their families and all who love them,” said Father James Martin, the editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine, who said he specifically discussed the issue with Francis at various meetings. “This is the first time that any pope has made such a clear statement about this issue of life and death.” He added that the pope “is siding, as he always does, with life, with human dignity and with the belief that all of us are created in the image of God.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of GLAAD, called Francis’ remarks “a game changer in the fight to decriminalize LGBTQ+ people and also illustrate the work that needs to be done with religious leaders to finally show that being LGBTQ+ is not a sin.”

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