A Polish court has acquitted three activists who put an LGBT rainbow on an icon of the Madonna and Child, made it into a poster and distributed it. The court said it did not see evidence of a crime. The activists had been charged with producing and distributing posters of an altered icon of the Read more
Culture warrior Catholics are falling prey to fundamentalism and bigotry says a Czechoslovakian academic. Warning the positive content of faith has become emptied, Father Tomáš Halík quotes the former Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini; “I am not so much afraid of people who do not have faith; what disturbs me are people who do Read more
Pope Francis, Thursday, told a group of parents of LGBT+children “The Pope loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” The comments came in a meeting between the parents and Francis to discuss their concerns about the Church’s discriminatory stance on the LGBT+ community. The parents are members of an Italian Read more
Now the Catholic Church is starting to address how to minister to the LGBT community, Italian Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi is inviting Catholics to look at gays and lesbians “as God looks at them.” “When communities will truly begin to look at people as God looks at them, then homosexual people — and everybody else Read more
LGBT champion Fr. James Martin, SJ met Pope Francis on Monday in a private audience in the apostolic palace inside the Vatican. They spoke to each other, seated at the table where the pope meets his high-level visitors. This is the third time Martin, who is known for his pastoral ministry to the LGBT community Read more
Poland’s Bishops Conference has warned of an “intolerable upsurge” in acts of profanation against Catholic sites around the country, while seeking to counter media claims the Church has incited violence against LGBT activists campaigning for greater rights. “In line with its Gospel summons, the Catholic Church respects the dignity of every person without exception – Read more
Poland’s Bishops’ Conference has condemned violent assaults on a weekend gay rights Equality Parade by nationalists who claimed to be defending their Catholic cathedral. At the same time the bishops said the Church will continue speaking out against the “deadly sin” of homosexuality. “Violence and contempt can never be justified or accepted – acts of Read more
The term “LGBT” was used for the first time in a Vatican document. The working document for the 2018 Synod on the Youth noted, “Some LGBT youth…wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church.” Sister Monica Astorga, an Argentinian Discalced Carmelite Nun, has been working with transgender women since 2005. Read more
One of the more recent challenges for Catholic parishes is how to welcome L.G.B.T. parishioners, as well as families with L.G.B.T. members. But that challenge is also where grace abounds because L.G.B.T. Catholics have felt excluded from the church for so long that any experience of welcome can be life-changing—a healing moment that can inspire Read more
Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar says religion should not be at the centre of society. Speaking on the weekend as Pope Francis made his first visit to Ireland, Varadkar noted since the last papal visit in 1979, Ireland has become more diverse. It is less religious and has modernised its laws on divorce, contraception, Read more