"Homosexuality is not a crime," Pope Francis said, in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, criticizing laws criminalizing the practice as "unfair."
He added that "God loves all his children exactly as they are," as he put it, calling on Catholic bishops who support this kind of anti-gay laws to welcome homosexuals into the church.
Francesco acknowledged that some Catholic bishops around the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against what is known as the "LGBT community", but he approached this issue from the perspective of "sin" and attributed these positions to their cultural backgrounds, calling on the bishops in particular to submit. For what he called a "change process" leading to recognition of the dignity of all.
"These bishops must undergo a process of conversion," he added, adding that they must apply the principle of "kindness and tenderness ... as the Lord does with each one of us."
The agency said Pope Francesco's new comments on anti-homosexual laws were the first of their kind for a pope, but were consistent with his general approach to the LGBT community and his belief that the Catholic Church should welcome all, not discriminate.
It is noteworthy that Pope Francesco had defended - in a documentary about his life broadcast in 2020 - the right of gay people to form a family, saying that they are "children of God."
"Homosexuals have a right to a family...they are children of God. No one should be expelled or made miserable because of this," the pope said in the film, which was shown for the first time at the Rome Film Festival.
In early 2022, he also called on parents of gay children not to condemn their children and to provide them with "support," saying, "Parents who see different sexual orientations in their children ... should not hide behind condemning attitudes towards them," according to Reuters.
He noted that the Church "while cannot accept same-sex marriage, can support civil union laws aimed at giving same-sex couples joint rights in the areas of salary, health care and inheritance issues."