Pope Francis tells parents to support children if they are gay

Pope Francis said that parents should support and not condemn children if they are gay

Pope Francis has urged parents to embrace and support their children if they are gay and not condemn them.

His latest outreach to the LGBT+ community came during his weekly general audience comments on Wednesday.

“Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude,” he was quoted as saying by Associated Press.

“Never condemn a child,” he added.

The pope has attempted to open up and welcome the LGBT+ community, to which the Catholic church which has been historically opposed.

In 2013, he had famously said, “Who am I to judge?”

He also said earlier that LGBTQ people have a right to be accepted by their families.

Recently he wrote a letter congratulating an American nun Sister Jeannine, who was once sanctioned by the Vatican, for her 50 years of LGBT+ ministry.

The church respects gays and lesbians but views homosexual activity as “intrinsically disordered.”

The pope has also said that while same sex marriage cannot be accepted by the church it can support civil union laws that are aimed at giving joint rights in areas of pensions and health care and inheritance issues, reported Reuters.

However, last year he allowed the publication of a Vatican document that said that the church will not bless same sex unions because God “cannot bless sin.”

It added that the pope had been informed of the document and “gave his assent” to its publication.

Later, the pope is believed to have to have transferred the official been behind the document after he was apparently taken by surprise by its impact.