A new Vatican document mentioning the marginalization of LGBTQ people is being celebrated by an LGBTQ-inclusive U.S.Catholic group as “evidence that we are in a new moment of conversation about LGBTQ issues in the Catholic Church.”
The document is designed to provide a “frame of reference” for the second phase of Pope Francis’ ongoing consultation with Catholics from around the world ahead of the Synod of Bishops — two large meetings to be held in October 2023 and October 2024.
A team of 30 advisers gathered for two weeks in Frascati, Italy, earlier this month to summarize listening sessions that were held with millions of Catholics over the last year. Their findings were presented Thursday from the Holy See Press Office.
The 45-page document —titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” — mentioned several topics considered taboo in the church, including “remarried divorcees, single parents, people living in a polygamous marriage (and) LGBTQ people.”
It noted that many Catholics envision the church as “an expansive, but not homogeneous dwelling, capable of sheltering all, but open, letting in and out, and moving toward embracing the Father and all of humanity.”
The fact that people around the world mentioned the marginalization of LGBTQ people as a major pastoral concern was celebrated as “great news” by Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry. The organization that advocates for justice and equality for LGBTQ Catholics.
“The document acknowledges that LGBTQ issues have become central to Catholic discussions today,” DeBernardo told the Daily News in a statement.
“For decades, these topics were barely mentioned, and if they were raised, they were in a spirit of condemnation, not one of pastoral concern,” he added, noting that when the Vatican used the term “LGBT” in a youth event 2018, it caused “an uproar” that led to the elimination of the term from other reports from that event.
In Thursday’s report, however, the Vatican repeatedly used the more-inclusive term “LGBTQ” — and even “LGBTQIA” in one spot, adding the letters representing the intersex and asexual/agender communities.
The document is also “shows that the leadership in the Vatican Synod Office clearly heard that these issues are important to the life of the church,” DeBernardo said.
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