The words of the Catholic church in Rome have changed significantly since last week’s interim report from the Vatican. Initially, the report written under Pope Francis said that gays and lesbians “need to be welcomed and accompanied with patience and delicacy” and that they “have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community.”
Church leaders added, “homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community.”
Things changed on Saturday. Catholic bishops revised their thoughts, saying that “people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy,” but repeated church teaching that marriage is only between man and woman. The paragraph failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
In other words, the warm welcome is a much colder one. According to reports, the revised paragraph referred to homosexuality as one of the problems Catholic families have to confront.
As the BBC reported, Catholic gay rights groups say they are disappointed after bishops rejected proposals for wider acceptance of gay people, which had the Pope’s backing.
Let’s see how many times they revise their thoughts depending on controversial reactions around the world.
