Pope Francis says laws that criminalize homosexuality are a "sin" and an "injustice"
"The criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," the Pope said on Sunday.
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"The criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," the Pope said on Sunday.
The Catholic leader spoke about laws discriminating against LGBTQ people, his health and his predecessor in a wide-ranging interview with the AP.
He was known as a traditionalist — "God's rottweiler" — for fiercely adhering to church doctrine. But Benedict's papacy was a papacy of firsts.
Pope Francis has marked the New Year by presiding over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and praying for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a day after his retired predecessor's death.
Pope Francis asked people to keep praying for his predecessor "in these difficult hours."
Benedict is 95. In 2013, he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries, and he has withdrawn almost entirely from public view.
Pope Francis used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the "icy winds of war" buffeting humanity and to make an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine.
Pope Francis urged the faithful to remember the millions of Ukrainians who were without electricity or heating Sunday because of Russian attacks, as well as the millions more displaced from their homes.
Pope Francis began a fraught visit to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses by missionaries at residential schools.
The Catholic leader has tried to walk a very delicate line on the war, condemning Russia's brutalities but refusing to clearly cast blame.
