Pope: God loves gays as they are

Pope Francis reassured parents of LGBT children that “God loves your children as they are” and that there is a place in the church for them, according to a report.

“The church loves your children as they are because they are children of God,” said Francis (inset), according to a report in the Jesuit weekly America magazine.

The exchange came during a meeting last week with Tenda di Gionata, or Jonathan’s Tent, an Italian group of Christian parents of LGBT children founded in 2018, the magazine reported.

About 40 parents met briefly with the pope last week in the courtyard of San Damaso at the Vatican — with the parents presenting the pontiff with a rainbowcolored T-shirt that read, “In love, there is no fear.”

They also gave the pope the book “Genitori Fortunati” — “Fortunate Parents” — that documents their difficulties fitting into the church.

“We wish to create a bridge to the church so that the church, too, can change its way of looking at our children, no longer excluding them but fully welcoming them,” Mara Grassi, the group’s vice president, told the pope.

Grassi later told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica she had “very strong emotions” during the visit, the magazine reported. “For many years I was like a blind person,” she said. “After I came to know that my son was homosexual, I suffered a lot because the rules of the church made me think that he was excluded from the love of God.”

The church has struggled with the acceptance of gay parishioners. Last year, a Polish archbishop said Poland was under siege from a “rainbow plague” sparked by gayrights advocates.