A group of 125 people, including priests, educators and administrators, demands “free access to all pastoral vocations” and termination “system of confidentiality, double standards and dishonesty”, which, according to them, in the church, topics related to the LGBT community meet in the church. “The establishment of a non-heterosexual relationship or the conclusion of (such) a marriage must never be regarded as a breach of loyalty or a consequent obstacle to employment or a reason for dismissal (from service),” the signatories of the declaration stated.
The Archbishop of Hamburg supported the campaign
Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg supported the campaign with the following words: “The church in which people have to hide because of their sexual orientation cannot, in my view, be in keeping with the spirit of Jesus’ teaching.” The issue of homosexual relations is causing tension in the Catholic Church between conservatives and more liberal circles, with Pope Francis himself having an ambivalent stance on the subject, AFP recalls.
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Francis, for example, publicly supported legal protection for registered gay partnerships and denied the need for laws that allow such a union, but the Vatican later explained that his statements concerned only the legal area and not the church. At the same time, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement last year clarifying that the Catholic Church cannot bless homosexual unions, which it considers a “sin.”