In what may have been his strongest explanation of the decision to permit priests to bless same-sex couples, Pope Francis stated that he views criticism of his decision as “hypocrisy.”
A Vatican letter known as Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust) approved LGBT blessings last month, but the Catholic Church has strongly opposed it, especially from African bishops.
“Nobody gets scandalised if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalised if I give them to a homosexual,” the leader of the Catholic faith told the Italian Catholic magazine Credere.
“This is hypocrisy,” he said.
Credere released extracts of the interview on Wednesday, a day ahead of publication.
Francis, who famously said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about homosexuality at the beginning of his papacy, has made it one of his missions to promote a more welcoming and less judgmental Catholic Church.
Conservatives claim that this could jeopardise the moral precepts taught by the Church.
Although Francis has supported Fiducia Supplicans on multiple occasions, he has also addressed criticism of the doctrine, stating, for instance, that blessings do not formally constitute Church endorsement of same-sex couples.
“When a couple comes forward spontaneously to ask for them, one does not bless the union, but simply the people who together have requested it. Not the union, but the persons,” Francis reportedly said on Jan. 26.
It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that homosexuality is immoral and pathological and that those who experience same-sex attraction—which is not a sin—should make an effort to remain chaste.
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Pope Francis stated in another interview that was released last week that he hoped opposition to LGBT blessings would eventually come to comprehend them, but that Africans were a “special case” when it came to their anti-homosexuality.
The Fiducia Supplicans have been essentially rejected by bishops in Africa. Homosexuality is punishable by harsh prison terms or possibly the death penalty in some African nations.