Pope clarifies homosexuality and sin comments in note

Source: Associated Press

Pope clarifies homosexuality and sin comments in note

By NICOLE WINFIELD
January 28, 2023

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has clarified his recent comments about homosexuality and sin, saying he was merely referring to official Catholic moral teaching that teaches that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin.

And in a note Friday, Francis recalled that even that black-and-white teaching is subject to circumstances that might eliminate the sin altogether.

Francis first made the comments in an interview Jan. 24 with The Associated Press, in which he declared that laws criminalizing homosexuality were “unjust” and that “being homosexual is not a crime.”

As he often does, Francis then imagined a conversation with someone who raised the matter of the church’s official teaching, which states that homosexual acts are sinful, or “intrinsically disordered.”

“Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime,” ...

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-lgbtq-people-religion-marriage-862075728690d103bd99bbe8e1e65aba