Varadkar hails Pope’s stance on LGBT laws
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has praised Pope Francis for sending a message to bishops and governments across the world that being gay is not a crime and that ‘they should welcome LGBT people’. Last week, in an interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide. However, he later clarified his comments, saying that homosexuality is a sin like all sexual acts outside of marriage according to Catholic moral teaching. When asked about the Pope’s comments yesterday, the Taoiseach welcomed them, stating that he believes Francis to be a ‘very progressive Pope’. He told Newstalk: ‘He believes in a church that is open to people. I think often he’s pushing back against other forces within the Church, within the Catholic Church, that are much more conservative. His comments were extremely welcome and sent a message to bishops across the world that they should welcome LGBT people and send a message to governments across the world that criminalising gay people is wrong.’
He added: ‘Bear in mind, there are still 70 to 80 countries in the world where it’s illegal to be gay, and having the Catholic Church, which is a powerful force in some of those countries, saying that this is wrong really is an important statement and it’s very, very welcomed.’
Mr Varadkar said that the message Pope Francis is sending out may not be as significant in Europe, but there are ‘large parts of the world’ where being gay is still a crime and ‘where the Church has a lot of influence and a lot of power’. He added: ‘The
Pope has been very brave. We can often look at things from our point of view here in Europe, here in Ireland, from a very liberal prism, but bear in mind that the Church is a worldwide organisation.
‘Values are very conservative in some places: in Africa and Latin America and Asia, for example.
‘The Pope has to deal with people within the Church who are much more conservative than him. I think when you see a Pope making a statement like this, doing something that I think is very progressive, that is very Christian, that we should welcome that and maybe not quibble with some of the details around it.’
When pushed on the Pope’s comments that homosexuality is a sin, he said that this is ‘Catholic teaching’ and it’s ‘important we respect religion, and that is the religious view of the Catholic Church’. He added: ‘I wouldn’t ever ask people to change their religious beliefs or religious affiliations, but the position he is trying to bring the Church to is one of tolerance, of love, one of saying there’s a difference between how you look at sin and sinners.’
‘Welcome that and not quibble with some of the details’