ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE
Pope Francis was backed by the ceremonial head of the Anglican Communion and top Presbyterian minister in calling for gays to be welcomed by their churches as he again decried laws that criminalize homosexuality as unjust.
The three Christian leaders
spoke on LGBTQ rights during an unprecedented joint airborne news conference
Sunday while returning home from South Sudan, where they took part in a
three-day ecumenical pilgrimage to try to nudge forward the young country’s
peace process.
They were asked about Francis’ recent
comments to The Associated Press, in which he declared that laws that
criminalize gay people were “unjust” and that “being homosexual is not a
crime.”
South Sudan is one of 67
countries that criminalizes homosexuality, 11 of them with the death penalty.
LGBTQ advocates say even where such laws are not applied, they contribute to a
climate of harassment, discrimination and violence.
During the news conference on
the way back to Rome, Francis specifically didn’t repeat that “being homosexual
is not a crime,” perhaps to not antagonize his South Sudanese hosts, who had
originally objected to his comments to the AP.
“If he (Pope Francis) is
coming here and he tells us that marriage of the same sex, homosexuality, is
legal, we will say no,” Michael Makuei Lueth, South Sudan’s information
minister, said after the pope’s AP interview and before his visit.The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby
On Sunday, Francis referred to
his Jan. 24 comments to the AP and repeated that such laws are “unjust.” He
also repeated previous comments that parents should never throw their gay
children out of the house.
“To condemn someone like this
is a sin,” he said. “Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an
injustice.”
“People with homosexual
tendencies are children of God. God Loves them. God accompanies them,” he
added.
The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby, recalled that LGBTQ rights were very much on the agenda of the Church
of England, and said he would quote the pope’s own words when the issue is
discussed at the church’s upcoming General Synod.
“I wish I had spoken as
eloquently and clearly as the pope. I entirely agree with every word he said,”
Welby said.
Recently, the Church of
England decided to allow blessings for same-sex civil marriages but said
same-sex couples could not marry in its churches. The Vatican forbids both gay
marriage and blessings for same-sex unions.
Welby told reporters
that the
issue of criminalization had been taken up at two previous Lambeth
Conferences of the broader Anglican Communion, which includes churches in
Africa and the Middle East where such anti-gay laws are most common and often
enjoy support by conservative bishops.
The broader Lambeth Conference
has come out twice opposing criminalization, “But it has not really changed
many people’s minds,” Welby said.
Friction has been simmering
within the global Anglican Communion for many years over its 42 provinces’
sharp differences on whether to recognize same-sex marriage and ordain LGBTQ
clergy.
Welby has been caught in the
middle as both the top bishop of the Church of England and the ceremonial
leader of the Anglican Communion, which is one of the world’s largest Christian
communities. Welby has acknowledged “deep disagreement” among the provinces
over LGBTQ issues and has said neither the Lambeth Conference nor he
individually has the authority to discipline a member province or impose
demands on it.
The Rt. Rev. Iain
Greenshields, the Presbyterian moderator of the Church of Scotland who also participated
in the pilgrimage and news conference, offered an observation.The Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields
“There is nowhere in my
reading of the four Gospels where I see Jesus turning anyone away,” he said.
“There is nowhere in the four Gospels where I see anything other than Jesus
expressing love to whomever he meets.
“And as Christians, that is
the only expression that we can possibly give to any human being, in any
circumstance.”
The Church of Scotland allows
same-sex marriages.
Catholic teaching holds that
gay people must be treated with dignity and respect, but that homosexual acts
are “intrinsically disordered.” - AP
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