{In a dramatic shift in tone, Catholic bishops released a document Monday saying that homosexuals had “gifts and qualities to offer” and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognise positive aspects of same-sex couples.
\n}<\/p>\n
Roman Catholic gay rights groups around the world hailed the paper as a breakthrough, but Church conservatives called it a betrayal of traditional family values.<\/p>\n
The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops on the family, said the Church should challenge itself to find \u201ca fraternal space\u201d for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.<\/p>\n
While the text did not signal any change in the Church\u2019s condemnation of homosexual acts or gay marriage, it used less judgmental and more compassionate language than that seen in Vatican statements prior to the 2013 election of Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a further space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home,\u201d said the document, known by its Latin name \u201crelatio\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre our communities capable of proving that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?\u201d it asked.<\/p>\n
New Ways Ministry, a leading US Catholic gay rights group, called it a \u201cmajor step forward\u201d, praising it for being devoid of the \u201cmajor gloom and doom and apocalyptic horror\u201d that accompanied previous Vatican pronouncements on gay people.<\/p>\n
The London-based Catholic gay rights group QUEST called parts of it \u201ca breakthrough in that they acknowledge that such unions have an intrinsic goodness and constitute a valuable contribution to wider society and the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Betrayal\u2019<\/p>\n
But John Smeaton, co-founder of the conservative group Voice of the Family, was less than happy with the Vatican\u2019s apparent change in direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who are controlling the synod have betrayed Catholic parents worldwide,\u201d he said, calling it \u201cone of the worst official documents drafted in Church history\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Vatican document will be the basis for discussion for the second and final week of the bishops\u2019 assembly, also known as a synod. It will also serve for further reflection among Catholics around the world ahead of another, definitive synod next year.<\/p>\n
A number of participants at the closed-door gathering have said the Church should tone down its condemnatory language when referring to gay couples and avoid phrases such as \u201cintrinsically disordered\u201d when speaking of homosexuals.<\/p>\n
That was the phrase used by former Pope Benedict in a document written before his election, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and head of the Vatican\u2019s doctrinal department.<\/p>\n
The language and tone of Monday\u2019s document, read to the assembly in the presence of Pope Francis, appeared to show that the advocates of a more inclusive tone towards gays and Catholics in so-called \u201cirregular situations\u201d\u2014such as unmarried couples and those who have divorced\u2014had prevailed.<\/p>\n
It said that the 1.2 billion-member Church should see the development of its position on homosexuals as \u201can important educational challenge\u201d for the global institution.<\/p>\n
While the Church continued to affirm that same-sex unions \u201ccannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman\u201d, it should recognise that there could be positive aspects to relationships in same-sex couples.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners,\u201d the document said.<\/p>\n
The paper also said there were \u201cconstructive elements\u201d to heterosexual couples who were married only in civil services or who were living together, but stressed that Church marriages were \u201cthe ideal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis has said the Church must be more compassionate with homosexuals, saying last year, \u201cIf a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Church teaches that while homosexual tendencies are not sinful, homosexual acts are.<\/p>\n
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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