Described by the ministry as “a moment once unimaginable,” Pope Francis met at the Vatican with Sr. Jeannine Gramick, the co-founder of the New Ways Ministry for LGBT Catholics.
Sr. Gramick met with the Pope for nearly an hour alongside three staffers of the ministry. The meeting is considered remarkable as in 1984 and 1999, Sr. Gramick was ordered by the Vatican to stop her work with LGBT persons for “failure to convey the clear teaching of the Catholic Church.” Pope Francis, on the other hand, has expressed his gratitude to Sr. Gramick for her pastoral work and the two have exchanged letters in the past.
The inclusion of LGBT Catholics has been a topic of discussion in the current Synod on Synodality and has prompted different perspectives.
FR. VIRAL TIRAMANNA
Synod Member; Professor of Moral Theology
I can assure you that everybody is included. The fact is to include everybody. Include everybody. The Church doesn't have issues only to do with LGBTQ. There are so many other groups.
BP. ZDENEK WASSERBAUER
Synod Member; Auxiliary Bishop, Prague
There is not going to be a decision whether we can bless or not gay couples. Our problem is rather how to tell everyone, including the members of the LGBT community, that they are part of the Church. That the Catholic Church is open to everyone.
Even some members of the Synod became emotional during these discussions.
FR. TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE
Synod Member
Many of us wept when we heard of that young woman who committed suicide because she was bisexual and did not feel welcomed in the Church. I wept. I hope it changed us.
Another member of the Synod, Fr. James Martin of the United States, said the Pope's meeting with Sr. Gramick is quote “a significant step forward in the church's outreach to LGBTQ Catholics.”
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