The relationship between the Catholic Church and homosexuality is complex and often contentious, involving various conflicting views between the Roman Catholic Church and some within the LGBTQ community.
According to Catholic doctrine, solely having same-sex attractions itself is not considered inherently sinful; it is the act of engaging in sexual activity with someone of the same sex that is regarded as a grave mortal sin against chastity. The Church also does not recognize nor perform any sacramental marriages between same-sex couples. However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes that all homosexual individuals must "be accepted and treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity," and that all forms of unjust discrimination should be discouraged and avoided at all cost.
The Church's teachings on this issue have developed over time, influenced by papal interventions and theologians, including the early Church Fathers. Pastoral care for LGBTQ Catholics is provided through a variety of official and unofficial channels, varying from diocese to diocese. In recent years, senior clergy and popes have called for the Church to increase its support for LGBTQ individuals.
The Catholic Church is politically active on LGBTQ issues and its relationship with the LGBTQ community has been particularly strained during critical moments, such as the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Some notable LGBT Catholics, including priests and bishops, have been openly gay or bisexual. Catholic dissenters have argued that legally consensual relations between people of the same-sex is as inherently spiritual and valuable as the same for those of the opposite-sex. Invariably, some Catholic organizations and institutions that uphold church teachings on sexual activities campaigned against LGBTQ rights worldwide, advocating for the promotion and encouragement of chastity and celibacy among LGBT Catholics.
Pope Francis took a notably different approach to these subjects than that of his predecessors. He became the first Pope to support granting civil union status for same-sex individuals as a legal protection for same-sex domestic partners. He also publicly denounced sodomy laws.
Catholic doctrine
The Catholic Church teaches that, as a person does not choose to be either homosexual or heterosexual, subjectively experiencing attraction for (a) person(s) of one's own sex is not inherently sinful. According to the Catholic theology of sexuality, all sexual acts must be open to procreation by nature and express the symbolism of male-female complementarity. Sexual acts between two members of the same sex cannot meet these standards. Homosexuality thus constitutes a tendency towards this sin. The church teaches that gay persons are called to practice chastity.
The church also teaches that gay people "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity", and that "every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." while holding that discrimination in marriage, employment, housing, and adoption in some circumstances can be just and "obligatory." According to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "homosexual acts" are "grave sins against chastity" and "expressions of the vice of lust."Compendium of the Catechism, 492 Homosexual acts are included among the grave sins against chastity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, along with masturbation, fornication, and pornography.Catechism of the Catholic Church
According to the Catechism, "homosexual acts" (i.e., sexual acts between persons of the same sex) are "acts of grave depravity" that are "intrinsically disordered." It continues, "They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved." Regarding homosexuality as an orientation, the Catechism describes it as "objectively disordered."
The church points to several passages in the Bible as the basis for its teachings, including Genesis 19:1–11, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, I Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:18–32, and I Timothy 1:10. In December 2019, the Pontifical Biblical Commission published a book that included an exegesis on these and other passages.
Research conducted in the fields of social sciences and study of religion indicates that the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality are "a major source of conflict and distress" to LGBT Catholics.
Accordingly, pious tradition claims that the Blessed Virgin Mary in Montevergine in Avellino, Italy has always been associated with homosexual Catholics, owing a tradition where a gay couple was saved from death by a purported miracle in 1256. To date, the same association and patronage is upheld by its gay devotees who venerate the Virgin Mary within that locality under that specific Marian title. Other notable Marian shrines with a comparable LGBT pious associations are the "Virgin of Hope" of Triana, Seville in Spain, the Basilica of the Virgin of Consolation in Turin and the Baclaran Church in Manila, Philippines.
Same-sex marriage The church opposes same-sex marriage and is active in political campaigns against it. It also opposes same-sex civil unions and does not bless them, although some priests and bishops have offered blessings for same-sex couples or spoken in favor of priests being able to bless them.NovenaNews: German Bishops’ head: “If a gay couple lives with faithfulness, can't we say their relationship is blessed by God?” , 14. April 2020 Nevertheless, Pope Francis expressed support for civil-unions to protect gay couples in the documentary Francesco (2020), and in a press conference in September 2021. In that press conference, Pope Francis declared:
In March 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that the church cannot bless same-sex relationships because "God cannot bless sin". On 18 December 2023, it published , a declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless persons who are not considered to be married by the Church, such as those in irregular relations, divorced and including same-sex couples.
Benediction for same-sex couples
In March 2021, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that the Church cannot bless same-sex relationships because "God cannot bless Sin". On 25 September 2023, in a responsum to conservative cardinals before the 16th World Synod of Bishops, Francis signalled the Church's openness to blessings for gay couples as long as they did not misrepresent the Catholic view of marriage as between one man and one woman.
On 18 December 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published , a declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless people who are not considered to be married by the Church, including people in same-sex relationships. These were to be "short and simple pastoral blessings (neither liturgical nor ritualized) of couples in irregular situations (but not of their unions)". The declaration does not permit the blessing of the same-sex relationships, only the people within it.
While the declaration was welcomed by many Catholics, it also sparked considerable controversy and criticism, with several bishops' conferences barring the blessings in their jurisdictions or asking priests to refrain from them.
In January 2024, the Roman-Catholic bishop conference in France allowed blessing ceremonies for same-sex partnerships.religion.orf at: Französische Bischöfe, Aufruf zur Segnung homosexueller Paare, January 11, 2024 In January 2024, the Episcopal Conference of Italy supported blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.Ewtnvatican: Italian Bishops Welcome Fiducia supplicans: “It is Situated on the Horizon of Mercy”, January 2024 In January 2024, Roman-Catholic bishop conference in Portugal supported blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.Portugalresident: Portugals bishops in Fall communion with Pope blessing for same-sex couples, January 2024 In April 2025, Roman Catholic Bishop Conference in Germany published a guideline help document of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.DBK.de: Gemeinsame Konferenz verabschiedet Handreichung zu Segensfeiern, April 2025
History
The Christian tradition has generally prohibited all sexual activities outside of married sexual intercourse. This prohibition includes activities engaged in by couples or individuals of either the same or different sexes. The Catholic Church's position specifically on homosexuality developed from the teachings of the Church Fathers, which was in stark contrast to Greek and Roman attitudes towards same-sex relations, including pederasty.
Canon law regarding same-sex sexual activity has been shaped through the decrees issued by a series of ecclesiastical councils. Initially, canons against sodomy were aimed at ensuring clerical or monastic discipline, and were only widened in the medieval period to include laymen.
In the Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas maintained that homosexual practice was contrary to natural law, arguing that the primary natural end of the sexual act was procreation, and since said procreation is carried out from a process of sexual fertilization between a man and a woman, homosexuality is contrary to the very end of said act.Blankenhorn, Fr. Bernhard; Droste, Sr. Catherine Joseph; Jindráček, Fr. Efrem; Legge, Fr. Dominic; White, Fr. Thomas Joseph (2015). «Aquinas & Homosexuality. Five Dominicans Respond to Adriano Oliva». Angelicum 92 (3): 297–302. . He also stated that "the unnatural vice" is the greatest of the sins of lust. Throughout the Middle Ages, the church repeatedly condemned homosexuality, and often collaborated with civic authorities to punish people engaging in same-sex relations. Punishment of sexual "vice" as well as religious heresy was seen as strengthening the church's moral authority.
After the Second Vatican Council
In the late 20th century, the Church has responded to gay rights movements by reiterating its condemnation of homosexuality while acknowledging the existence of gay people. In January 1976, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Paul VI published Persona Humana, which codified the teaching against all extra-marital sex, including gay sex. The document stated that acceptance of homosexual activity runs counter to the church's teaching and morality. It drew a distinction between people who were homosexual because of "a false education," "a bad example" or other causes it described as "not incurable," and a "pathological" condition which was "incurable." However, it criticized those who argued that innate homosexuality justified same-sex sexual activity within loving relationships, and stated that the Bible condemned homosexual activity as depraved, "intrinsically disordered," never to be approved, and a consequence of rejecting God.
Earlier, the controversially liberal 1966 Dutch Catechism, which was the first post-Vatican II Catholic catechism and which had been commissioned by the Dutch bishops, had stated that "The very sharp strictures of Scripture on homosexual practices (Genesis 1; Romans 1) must be read in their context" as condemning a trend for homosexuality among non-gay people, implying that people who were gay were not condemned for homosexual activity.