History of the Catholic Church and homosexuality

[5] Initially, proscriptions against "sodomy" were aimed simply at ensuring clerical or monastic discipline; and were only later widened in the Middle Ages to include laymen.

[6] By the Middle Ages, the Catholic clergy increasingly encouraged the pious to hunt out those committing homosexual acts, and to hand them over to secular authorities for punishment.

"[note 1] David F. Greenberg cites it as an example of early Christian writings that were "unequivocably opposed to male prostitution and pederasty—probably the most visible forms of homosexuality in their time".

[11] The Apology of Aristides of Athens, presented to Emperor Hadrian around 117–138 CE (himself homosexual), scorned the practices and acts of the Greek pagans who worshiped gods some of whom "polluted themselves by lying with males".

[16] His most notable discourse in this regard is his fourth homily on Romans 1:26–27, where he argued that those who have sex with the same gender must do so because they are insane: "All of these affections then were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more dishonored than the body in diseases.

[16] Chrysostom was particularly influential in shaping early Christian thought that same-sex desire was an evil that ultimately resulted in social injustice, altering the traditional interpretation of Sodom as a place of inhospitality, to one where the sexual transgressions of the Sodomites became paramount [note: this claim is highly contested.

[24] These went beyond Elvira and Ancyra in explicitly endorsing the death penalty for sodomy—claiming that it had led God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and send the Great Flood.

[39] In 1179, Pope Alexander III presided over the Third Lateran Council in Rome which decreed (canon 11) that all those guilty of sodomy be removed from office or confined to penitential life in a monastery, if clergy; and be strictly excommunicated, if laity: "Let all who are found guilty of that unnatural vice for which the wrath of God came down upon the sons of disobedience and destroyed the five cities with fire, if they are clerics be expelled from the clergy or confined in monasteries to do penance; if they are laymen they are to incur excommunication and be completely separated from the society of the faithful.

"[40] The French theologian Alain de Lille complained in 1202 that "such a great body of foul men roam and riot along the breadth of the whole earth," spreading perversion and impurity with "monstrous acts" endangering the wider community.

"[43] Canon 14 of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 stated that if a priest suspended for unchastity of any kind—especially the vice that "on account of which the anger of God came from heaven upon the children of unbelief" (sodomy)—dared to celebrate Mass then he was to be deposed permanently from the priesthood.

[note 4][44] By the early 13th century (time of the Fourth Lateran Council) the Church determined that "secular authorities, as well as clergy, should be allowed to impose penalties on 'sodomites' for having had sexual relations," and by the end of this period, "Sodomites were now [regarded as] demons as well as sinners.

[46] In 1478, with the Papal Bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, Pope Sixtus IV acceded to the request of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, granting them exclusive authority to name the inquisitors in their kingdoms.

Pope Clement VII granted permission but only within the Kingdom of Aragon and on condition that trials be conducted according to the civil laws, not the standard inquisitorial procedure.

)[57] It received 4,419 denunciations against individuals accused of sodomy, of whom 447 were subjected to a formal trial, and thirty were burnt at the stake, in accordance with the pre-1536 civil laws enacted under Kings Afonso V and Manuel I, and many others were sent to the galleys or to exile, temporary or permanent.

[7] Although homosexuality was not directly discussed at the 16th century Council of Trent, it did nevertheless commission the drawing up of a catechism (following the successful lead of some Protestants) which stated: "Neither fornicators nor adulterers, nor the effeminate nor sodomites shall possess the kingdom of God.

"[58] In Malta, governed by the Catholic military order the Knights Hospitaller, there was harsh prejudice and laws towards those who were found guilty or spoke openly of being involved in same-sex activity.

[59][60] English voyager and author William Lithgow, writing in March 1616, described how a Spanish soldier and a Maltese teenage boy were publicly burnt to ashes for confessing to having practiced sodomy together.

In January 1976, he had published a homily, Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions concerning Sexual Ethics, that outlawed premarital and extra-marital sex, condemned homosexuality, and forbade masturbation.

In a brief address to a crowd of approximately 20,000 in St. Peter's Square on 18 April, Montini called the charges "horrible and slanderous insinuations" and appealed for prayers on his behalf.

[73] In 2006, the newspaper L'Espresso reported that the private papers of police commander General Giorgio Manes accepted the blackmail story as true, and that they claimed Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro had been asked to help.

He wrote: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man".

"[90][91] An essay by the French Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim taking a clear position against gay marriage and denouncing the theory of acquired gender was quoted at length by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2012 Christmas address to the Roman Curia.

[102][103] In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, issued in 2016, Francis encouraged better understanding from all members of the Church on the acceptance of gay people, without suggesting any specific doctrinal changes.

[105] In 2019, during an interview with Spanish journalist Jordi Evole, Pope Francis brought up how Catholic teaching states that homosexual tendencies "are not a sin," while also saying that young children who exhibit unusual behaviors should see a professional as it may be for other reasons than them being gay.

As early as February 1976, Mugavero issued a pastoral letter entitled "Sexuality: God's Gift," defending the legitimate rights of all people, including those who were gay and lesbian.

"[120] In addition to gay and lesbian Catholics, the letter also spoke to the widowed, adolescents, the divorced, and those having sexual relations outside of marriage, stating: "we pledge our willingness to help you ... to try to find new ways to communicate the truth of Christ because we believe it will make you free.

[119] Similarly, the American bishops Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit and Matthew Clark of Rochester, New York, were criticized for their association with New Ways Ministry, and their "distortion" of the theological concept of the "Primacy of Conscience" as an alternative to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

[131] In 2013, members of the Rainbow Sash Movement in Illinois planned to hold a prayer service in a cathedral for legalization of same-sex marriage, an initiative that Bishop Paprocki of Springfield called blasphemous.

Paul Kalchik in Avondale, Chicago, burned a banner depicting a lavender cross superimposed over a rainbow, which he described as "propaganda," following a prayer of exorcism.

[150] In further comments by Pope Francis in reference to the German Synodal path, he has also warned that "the danger is that something very, very ideological trickles in" and describes the process as "elite" because it doesn't involve "all the people of God.