Europe
Pope Francis says he is open to blessings for same-sex unions
Pontiff vehemently opposed marriage equality in native Argentina
Pope Francis has said he is open to the possibility that the Catholic Church would allow blessings for same-sex unions.
The Vaticanās Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Monday released a letter that Francis wrote to five cardinals who urged him to reaffirm church teaching on homosexuality ahead of this week’s Synod on Synodality, a meeting during which LGBTQ Catholics, women in the church and other issues will be discussed.
Francis wrote the letter on July 11.
The Associated Press reported Francis said “such (same-sex) blessings could be studied if they didnāt confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.”
“This new step, outlined in a document released on Oct. 2 by the Vaticanās Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, allows for pastoral ministers to administer such blessings on a case-by-case basis, advising that ‘pastoral prudence’ and ‘pastoral charity’ should guide any response to couples who request a blessing,” noted Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based organization that ministers to LGBTQ Catholics, on Monday in a press release. “It also indicates that permitting such blessings cannot be institutionalized by diocesan regulations, perhaps a reference to some dioceses in Germany where blessings are already taking place with official and explicit permission. ‘The life of the church,’ the pope writes, ‘runs through many channels in addition to the standard ones,’ indicating that respecting diverse and particular situations must take precedence over church law.”
DeBernardo in the same press release said the “allowance for pastoral ministers to bless same-gender couples implies that the church does indeed recognize that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God.”
“Those recognitions, while not completely what LGBTQ+ Catholics would want, are an enormous advance towards fuller and more comprehensive equality,” he said. “This statement is one big straw towards breaking the camelās back of the marginalized treatment LGBTQ+ people experience in the church.”
The Vaticanās tone towards LGBTQ and intersex issues has softened since Francis assumed the papacy in 2013.
Francis has publicly endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples, and has said laws that criminalize homosexuality are āunjust.ā Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity have nevertheless not changed under Francis’ papacy.
Francis earlier this year told a newspaper in his native Argentina that gender ideology as “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” because “it blurs differences and the value of men and women.”
The pope was the archbishop of Buenos Aires when a law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in Argentina took effect in 2010. Francis was among those who vehemently opposed the marriage equality bill before then-President Cristina FernƔndez de Kirchner signed it.
Europe
African LGBTQ activists meet with Pope Francis
Pontiff met with Clare Byarugaba from Uganda and Ebenezer Peegah from Ghana
Pope Francis on Tuesday met with two LGBTQ activists from Africa at the Vatican.
Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda posted to her X account a picture of her sitting next to Francis. A video that she shared shows Juan Carlos Cruz ā a gay Chilean man who is a survivor of clergy sex abuse and a member of a commission that advises Francis on protecting children from pedophile priests ā introducing her to the pontiff.
Cruz is also a member of the GLAAD board of directors.
Byarugaba, who also founded PFLAG Uganda, said she was āhonored to meetā Francis. She added she briefed him on āthe ruinous impact of Ugandaās two in a decade anti-LGBTIQ rights laws,ā including the Anti-Homosexuality Act that President Yoweri Museveni signed in 2023, and āthe gross human rights violations therein.ā
āHe reiterated discrimination is a sin and violence against LGBTIQ communities is unacceptable,ā said Byarugaba.
The Washington Blade has reached out to Byarugaba for additional comment.
Francis on Tuesday also met with Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah.
“With LGBTQI+ criminalization rising in Africa, and Ghana’s anti-LGBTQI+ bill pending, we shared our experiences as queer individuals in Ghana and expressed gratitude to the pope for his progressive stance, especially his opposition to violence and discrimination,” said Rightify Ghana on X. “Pope Francis encouraged us to ‘keep fighting for your rights,’ and that’s exactly what we will do.”
On Tuesday, August 14, 2024, Rightify Ghana’s Director @Ebenezer_Peegah had the honour of meeting Pope Francis @Pontifex at the Vatican.
With LGBTQI+ criminalisation rising in Africa, and Ghana’s anti-LGBTQI+ bill pending, we shared our experiences as queer individuals in.. pic.twitter.com/tYfW1X4W6D
ā Rightify Ghana (@RightifyGhana) August 15, 2024
Francis during a Jan. 24, 2023, interview with the Associated Press said homosexuality is not a crime and laws that criminalize it are āunjust.ā Francis a few days later reiterated these comments during a press conference on board his plane after it left South Sudan, a country that borders Uganda.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in South Sudan.
āThe criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored,ā Francis told reporters. āCriminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.ā
Ugandaās Anti-Homosexuality Act, among other things, contains a death penalty provision for āaggravated homosexuality.ā
The U.S. after Museveni signed the law imposed visa restrictions on Ugandan officials and removed the country from a program that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the U.S. The World Bank Group also announced the suspension of new loans to Uganda.
The Ugandan Constitutional Court on April 3 refused to ānullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act in its totality.ā
More than a dozen activists appealed the ruling to the countryās Court of Appeal. They filed a second appeal with the Supreme Court on July 11.
Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, and Seychelles are among the countries that have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations over the last decade.
The Namibian government last month appealed a ruling that struck down the countryās apartheid-era sodomy laws.
Burkina Fasoās military government on July 10 announced it plans to recriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations in the nation. The Ghanaian Supreme Court on July 24 upheld the country’s colonial-era sodomy law.
Ghanaian lawmakers on Feb. 28Ā approvedĀ theĀ Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill that would, among other things, criminalize allyship. President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he will not sign the bill until the Supreme Court rules on whether it is constitutional or not.Ā
Europe
Estonia’s marriage equality law takes effect
Statute is ‘a very important message from the government’
A law that extends marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples in Estonia took effect on Monday.
Lawmakers last July approved the marriage equality bill by a 55-34 vote margin. Estonia is the first Baltic country and the first former Soviet republic to allow same-sex couples to legally marry.
āItās an important moment that shows Estonia is a part of northern Europe,ā Baltic Pride Project Manager Keio Soomelt told the Guardian newspaper. āFor the LGBT+ community, it is a very important message from the government that says, finally, we are as equal as other couples; that we are valuable and entitled to the same services and have the same options.ā
The country’s civil partnership law has been in place since 2013.
The Guardian reported same-sex couples could begin to apply for marriage licenses on Monday. Authorities are expected to process the first applications by Feb. 2.
Europe
Andorran prime minister comes out as gay
Xavier Espot Zamora spoke with country’s public broadcaster
Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora has come out as gay.
“I’m gay. I’ve never hid it,” he saidĀ during an interview with Radio and Television of Andorra, the country’s public broadcaster,Ā on Monday. “Now, if I’m not asked I don’t have to say it, in the sense that it doesn’t define the entirety of who I am and even less my personal politics, but at the same time I think it shouldn’t be a problem to express it. And if this helps many children, young people or teenagers who are going through a difficult time see that in the end, regardless of their condition or sexual orientation, you can prosper in this country and reach the highest magistracy, then I am happy to express it.”
Andorra is a small country known for its ski areas that is nestled between Spain and France in the Pyrenees.
Espot has been prime minister since 2019. The country’s lawmakers in 2022 extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The prime minister is one of a handful of heads of state and government who are openly gay or lesbian.
Latvian President Edgars RinkÄviÄs took office in July.
Luxembourgish Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has been in office since 2013, while Ana BrnabiÄ became Serbia’s prime minister in 2017. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar is openly gay.
Deputy Belgian Prime Minister Petra De Sutter is a transgender woman.
Then-Icelandic Prime Minister JĆ³hanna SigurĆ°ardĆ³ttir in 2009 became the world’s first openly LGBTQ head of government.
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