VATICAN CITY: The Vatican is sending new signals about how it intends to serve gays and Catholics under Pope LeoLGBT Catholic advocates cheered this week when a Vatican working group released a report including testimony from two gay and married Catholics who spoke about their sexuality, their faith, and how negative church teachings had hurt them. Liu explained during a recent press conference that he believes the church’s teachings on social justice, equality and freedom are far more important than its teachings on sexual morality.However, at the same conference, Liu indicated that he would not go further than Francis on the controversial issue of same-sex blessings. The Vatican recently renewed its opposition to any local efforts to deviate from the position of the Holy See. “If the Catholic Church has begun to listen to Catholics from the LGBTQ+ community as part of its methodology, then the Church has already moved forward in an important way,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit who has led the church’s outreach to the LGBTQ+ community in the United States.
But these references drew criticism from conservatives, who emphasized official Catholic teaching that homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered.”The Vatican working group’s report summarized the work of experts studying controversial topics that have emerged from Francis’ years of reform efforts. The report has no binding value.The testimony, contained in appendices posted on the Vatican’s synod website, included accounts of how one man sometimes struggled with his faith because of insensitive remarks from a Catholic spiritual director and “conversion therapy.” The other testimony, from an American, said: “My sexuality is not a deviation, a disorder, or a cross; it is a gift from God.”