Pope Francis clarifies stance on homosexuality: “Every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin”

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

And in Friday’s note, Francis reminded that even this black-and-white teaching depends on circumstances that can completely eliminate sin.

Francis first made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press on January 24, in which he stated that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unfair” and that “being a homosexual is not a crime.”

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

“Okay, but first let’s distinguish between sin and crime,” Francis said in feigned conversation. “It is also a sin not to show mercy to one another.”

His comments calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality were hailed by LGBTQ advocates as a milestone to help end persecution and violence against LGBTQ people. But his reference to “sin” raised questions about whether he thought mere homosexuality was itself a sin.

The Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who leads a US-based ministry for LGBTQ Catholics, asked Francis for clarification and posted the pope’s handwritten response on the Outreach website late Friday night.

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In his memo, Francis reaffirmed that homosexuality “is not a crime” and said he spoke out “in order to emphasize that criminalization is neither good nor fair.”

“When I said it was a sin, I simply meant the Catholic moral teaching that any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,” Francis wrote in Spanish, emphasizing the last sentence.

But, alluding to his individual approach to the pastoral ministry, Francis noted that even this teaching is subject to circumstances “which can reduce or eliminate error.”

He acknowledged that he could have been clearer in his comments to the AP. But he said he used “natural and colloquial language” in the interview, which does not require precise definitions.

“As you can see, I repeated something in general. I should have said, “It’s a sin, like any sexual intercourse outside of marriage.” This is if we talk about the “matter” of sin, but we are well aware that Catholic morality not only takes into account matter, but also evaluates freedom and intention, and this is for any kind of sin,” he said.

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions around the world criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or already have the death penalty, according to the Human Dignity Trust, which is working to repeal such laws. Experts say that even where laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

Catholic teaching forbids same-sex marriage, believing that the sacrament of marriage is a lifelong bond between a man and a woman. It reserves sexual intercourse for married couples, banning artificial contraception.

During his ten-year pontificate, Francis upheld this teaching, but made working with LGBTQ people a priority. He emphasized a more merciful approach to applying church teaching to accompany people rather than judge them.