Obviously Catholic church does way more harm than good but better than not doing this for sure
Pope Francis has made what many are calling a historic statement against laws that criminalize homosexuality.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the pope says that God loves everyone and told Catholic bishops to welcome queer people.
“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis told the news wire.
The pontiff still referred to homosexuality as “sin,” but criticized Catholic bishops and church leaders who were involved in pushing for the criminalization of homosexuality across the world.
He added that those sorts of sentiments stemmed from the leaders’ cultural backgrounds.
“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” Francis told the AP, saying they needed to use “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”
He said that these laws are “unjust” and that the Catholic Church should work to stop them.
“It must do this. It must do this,” Francis said. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” Francis added, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Its not unique to Catholicism. I've had friends in Protestant denominations get the same speech. I've heard it anecdotally in Muslim communities as well.
Christians genuinely believe they're hitting some kind of compassionate compromise. They're reconciled themselves to your personal desires and simply squared it with their own guilty consciences. Wanting to kiss the wrong gendered person is no different than wanting to grab a fist full of cash out of the collection plate or punt the chore boy in the nuts.
But - in my experience anyway - all this ever seems to really do is create schisms within the Church. Homophobes decide that Christianity has Gone Woke and splinter off into their own little Opus Dei fascist cults. Progressives in the church, particularly those with a sizable or influential LGBT congregation, just kinda close their ears and pretend to be a more permissive denomination while church leadership is talking.
The folks getting served the message have it worst of all. Do they just... keep having loving relationships with their peers that they kinda feel guilty about? Do they consign themselves to celibacy or a loveless "straight" marriage, while having sinful jaunts that they periodically cleanse themselves of during confession? Do they just give up on the belief system they've spent decades incorporating into their lives and become cynics?
The whole thing is so fucked up.