Pastoral care for LGBT Catholics consists of the ministry and outreach the Catholic Church provides to LGBTQ Catholics.

There are official organizations, such as Courage International, as well as stand-alone events, scholarly studies, comments, and teachings from the highest levels of the Catholic Church, as well as individual parish outreach.

Vatican Pope John Paul II

During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a letter that asked "the bishops to support, with the means at their disposal, the development of appropriate forms of pastoral care for homosexual persons.”

This letter, addressed to all the bishops of the Catholic Church, was entitled On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. This was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect. The letter gave instructions on how the clergy should deal with, and respond to, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Designed to remove any ambiguity about permissible tolerance of homosexual orientation resulting from the earlier Persona Humana—and prompted by the growing influence of gay-accepting groups and clergy—the letter was particularly aimed at the church in the United States.John L. Allen Jr., Benedict XVI: A Biography, Continuum, 2005, p201

It affirmed the position that while homosexual orientation is not in itself a sin, it is nevertheless a tendency towards the "moral evil" of homosexual activity, and therefore must be considered "an objective disorder". The letter went on to say that when homosexual activity is the result of deliberate choice, it is not made inculpable by natural sexual orientation.Robert J. Dempsey, "The Catholic Church's Teaching about Same-Sex Marriage" in The Linacre Quarterly, vol 75 (2008), p. 77 Furthermore, the letter argues that this natural homosexual orientation is "essentially self-indulgent" since homosexual sexual acts are not procreative and therefore not genuinely loving or selfless.

The letter condemned physical and verbal violence against gay people,Jeffrey Siker, Homosexuality and Religion but asserted that condemnation of violence did not mean that the homosexual orientation was good or neutral or that homosexual sexual acts should be permitted. However, it added that human beings, being made in the image and likeness of God, could not be reduced to either heterosexuals or homosexuals. Instead, it affirmed that every person, gay or straight, "has a fundamental identity: a creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life."

The letter also said that accepting homosexual acts as morally equivalent to married heterosexual acts was harmful to the family and society and warned bishops to be on guard against, and not to support, Catholic organizations not upholding the Church's doctrine on homosexuality—groups which the letter said were not really Catholic.Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 1 October 1986 This alluded to LGBT and LGBT-accepting Catholic groups such as DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, and ultimately resulted in the exclusion of Dignity from Church property.

Critics have described the document as teaching "that a gay male or lesbian sexual identity is not to be celebrated, nor is it properly seen as a source of pride". The claims that accepting and legalizing homosexual behaviour leads to violence were seen as controversially blaming gay people for homophobic violence and encouraging homophobic violence.McNeill, The Church and the Homosexual, 4th ed, p154 Referring to the AIDS epidemic, the letter, McNeill writes, blamed AIDS on gay rights activists and gay-accepting mental health professionals: "Even when the practice of homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people, its advocates remain undeterred and refuse to consider the magnitude of the risks involved"."Some Considerations Concerning the Catholic Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons", Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. July 1992. Andrew Sullivan called this comment "extraordinary for its lack of compassion"John L. Allen 2005, p. 202 and added that "some of [the letter's] clauses read chillingly like comparable church documents produced in Europe in the 1930s."John L. Allen 2005, p. 203

In a statement released in July 1992, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expanded on the letter and stated that discrimination against gay people in certain areas, such as selecting adoptive or foster parents or in hiring teachers, coaches, or military service members, is not unjust, and thus permitted.

Pope Francis

In an interview on 28 July 2013, when discussing homosexuals (both in general and their place in the clergy) and answering a question as to whether there was a "gay lobby" in the Vatican, Pope Francis said, "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in a beautiful way, saying...: 'no one should marginalize these people for this, they must be integrated into society.'" According to two gay rights activists, Marcelo Márquez and Andrés Albertsen, Pope Francis expressed support for the spiritual needs of "homosexual people" and willingness to support "measured actions" on their behalf in private conversations with them. These remarks have been seen as an encouraging change of tone from the papacy, so much so that the American LGBTQ magazine The Advocate named Pope Francis their Person of the Year for 2013.

On 2 October 2016, Pope Francis spoke in favor of pastoral care for and including transgender Catholics in the church, stating priests should "accompany them spiritually" and that they should never be turned away, even if they have undergone gender transition and sex-reassignment operations. Francis once held an audience with a Spanish transgender man, who had transitioned from female to male, and his wife.

In April 2018 Pope Francis met with Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse by Chilean priest Fernando Karadima. Cruz discussed with Francis in detail how his sexual orientation was used by Latin American media and news outlets to discredit his report of abuse and label him as a pervert and liar. In a private conversation between the two, Francis reportedly said to Cruz, who is gay, in regards to his sexuality, "You know Juan Carlos, that does not matter. God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say."

On 26 August 2018, in the plane in the return journey from Ireland to Rome, Pope Francis said that homosexual people existed in the whole history of humankind. He also said Catholic parents should talk with their homosexual children and that they should not be "throw[n] out" of the family. In the retranscription of the Pope's statement the following day, the sentence "When it [homosexuality] shows itself from childhood, there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry, to see how things are. It is something else if it shows itself after 20 years" was removed from the official transcription; an official from the Vatican stated it was done in order not to change "the thoughts of the Holy Father".

In an interview for the film Francesco, Pope Francis supported same sex civil union, stating that "Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. [...] What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that."

2014 Synod on the Family

At the 2014 Synod on the Family, the interim report asked if the Church was capable of guaranteeing gay Catholics "a place of fellowship in our communities" and "accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony." It added that gay people have "gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community." Cardinal Donald Wuerl argued that it was "not so much a change in the teaching of the Church, but a way of saying it that is far more inviting, far more welcoming."

The final report speaks of the giving of appropriate pastoral care, in harmony with the Church's teaching, to LGBT Catholics and that gay people "ought to be received with respect and sensitivity." After the vote, Archbishop Paul-André Durocher wrote on his blog that "I have the impression many would have preferred a more open, positive language. Not finding it in this paragraph, they might have chosen to indicate their disapproval of it." Cardinal Vincent Nichols said he did not think it a good paragraph, because the absence of the key words "respect", "welcome", and "value" meant it did not go far enough. He gave assurance that there was no question in the synod of endorsing the idea of same-sex marriage or of changing the Church's teaching on sexual morality. Other bishops worried that more welcoming language "could be read as code-words for the Catholic Church going soft on its moral teaching."

The interim report's statements on homosexuality were described by gay rights advocates as "a seismic shift in tone toward acceptance of gays." One priest commentator said that the language used "represents a revolutionary change in how the church addresses the LGBTQ community," pointing to the document's lack of use of phrases such as "intrinsically disordered." The attitude change on homosexuality signaled by the interim report was welcomed by gay groups such as DignityUSA, who said that the "positive language" used "is more affirming and will give many people hope."

2015 Synod on the Family

At the larger follow-up Synod on the Family in 2015, Courage International and Ignatius Press sponsored an event at the Angelicum on homosexuality that featured Cardinals Robert Sarah and George Pell. The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics also held an event that they said hoped would bring "LGBT voices to the Synod" at the Centre for Pilgrims Santa Teresa Couderc.

During the Synod debates, the rejection of "exclusionary language" towards gays was a topic of discussion. One Synod member, who was not publicly identified, said that gay Catholics "are our children. They are family members. They are not outsiders. They are our flesh and blood. How do we speak about them [positively] and offer a hand of welcome?" According to Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Australia, there was strong support in the early days of the assembly for using a "less condemnatory approach," especially regarding language, when pastorally caring for and speaking about gay Catholics, on the order of 70% in favor and 30% opposed.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of the United States echoed this thought in an interview, saying that the phrase "intrinsically disordered" turns people off and "probably isn’t useful anymore." While making clear that any new language adopted should make clear the Church's teaching, he said that this particular phrase should be put "on the shelf for a while, until we get over the negativity related to it." Irish Archbishop Diarmuid Martin also told the assembly that the successful campaign in his country to legalize gay marriage used "what was traditionally our language: equality, compassion, respect and tolerance."

The final report repeated Church teaching that every person, gay or straight, should be treated with dignity and not face unjust discrimination, but also reaffirmed that marriage was between a man and a woman. It did not describe how the Church should minister directly to them, but did say that there should be outreach.

2018 Synod on Youth

The 2018 Synod of Bishops focused on youth and the issues facing them. Among other topics, the concerns of LGBT youth were to be discussed.