LGBTQ+ persons, pope Francis, and the church we need

Abstract

Contemporary society brings to light new subjects and new configurations of family life, including LGBTQ+ people and their unions. More and more, these new subjects and these new configurations appear in Christian communities and the Catholic Church. To reflect on this reality and to seek pastoral paths of inclusion and integration, the contributions of Francis’s pontificate are of great value. He strives for an outgoing Church that goes to the existential peripheries. Following the Second Vatican Council, the pope deepens the teaching of the Church and brings new shades of freedom and autonomy of conscience, the evolution of doctrine, and the hierarchy of truths. He convened the Synod of Bishops on the Family, published the Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris laetitia (AL) on this subject, and gave striking examples of being welcoming and some steps in changing the doctrine. Francis’s gestures and words open promising paths in the complex relationship between the Christian world and LGBTQ+ persons, toward the Church we need. [extract]