Vatican Shifts Position on Homosexuals

The Vatican, after meetings with over 200 bishops in the Church, published a report on a host of issues, one of which was with regards to homosexuality. In the initial report, “The original text contained an entire section titled “Welcoming homosexuals,” which asked the church to provide gays a “fraternal space” and said their unions constitute a “precious support” for the partners” (Al Jazeera, 2014). 

However, because of international pressure from many conservative Catholics, the church, in its English report, uses different language, seeming to provide less direct support for same sex rights. According to the Al Jazeera report, “The Vatican said English-speaking bishops had requested the changes.

Individuals in and outside the Catholic community have responded to this shift. For example, “Francis DeBernardo of the New Ways Ministry, a leading U.S. Catholic gay rights group, said the new development was a “mixed bag.” “It would have been nicer if they kept the earlier version, but the fact that we’re still speaking of ‘valuable support’ is positive,” DeBernardo told Al Jazeera. He said the language showed a general attempt by the bishops to be more accommodating to gay people and that this was only the beginning of a process to accept homosexuals” (Al Jazeera, 2014).

The change in the report is troubling, as it moves away from complete rights of same-sex individuals. Human rights must continue to exist for all individuals, regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. While the initial report was commendable, this change suggests that the Church may not move as quickly on same-sex rights as was initially hoped. Let us hope that the Church will in fact go back to their initial statements, pointing out the need for human rights for same sex individuals in their Church.