Pope Francis on Wednesday called on
parents to support their gay children.
During his weekly general audience,
Francis, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, said that
parents should not condemn their children of “different sexual
orientations.”
“[P]arents who see different sexual
orientations in their children and how to handle this, how to
accompany their children, and not hide behind an attitude of
condemnation,” he said, according
to Reuters.
In 2020, Francis endorsed civil unions
for same-sex couples for the first time as pontiff.
“Homosexual people have the right to
be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said in the
documentary film Francesco.
“You can’t kick someone out of a
family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have
is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered,” he added.
Francis also endorsed civil unions for
gay couples while serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires. Brazil
legalized same-sex marriage in 2013.
Francis has repeatedly said that the
Catholic Church cannot support marriage rights for gay and lesbian
couples.