Pope Francis suggests allowing same-sex marriage

On October 2, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the answers of the head of the Catholic Church to questions from five Cardinals.

The Vatican's information portal reported this on its website.

One of the questions was about the blessing of same-sex marriage.

In his response to this dubium [question; lit. "doubt" — TN], the Pope said that "the Church has a very clear understanding of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation. Only this union can be called "marriage." Other forms of union realize it only in "a partial and analogous way," so they cannot be strictly called "marriage." For this reason, the Church avoids any type of rite or sacramental that might contradict this conviction and suggest that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage."

Nevertheless, Pope Francis added that "in our relationships with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes. The defence of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude."