A Catholic conference on family issues that Pope Francis is due to address this weekend heard a plea from a US priest on Thursday for the Church to welcome gay members, who he said had been made to feel like lepers.
At the first major speech on the issue at the World Meeting of Families, which is organised by the Vatican every three years and is being held in Dublin this year, US Jesuit priest James Martin told delegates that excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics violated the teachings of Jesus Christ.
"Let your LGBT brothers and sisters know that you stand with them... Be courageous," Martin told about 1,000 delegates, before listing concrete steps for priests to take to welcome gay parishioners.
"By excluding LGBT Catholics, you are breaking up God's family," he added.
The Church teaches that homosexual tendencies are not sinful but homosexual acts are, and that homosexuals should try to be chaste.
"WHO AM I TO JUDGE?"
In 2013, Pope Francis, who arrives in Dublin on Saturday for a two-day visit, said the Church should seek forgiveness from homosexuals for the way they had treated them. "If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to...
