One day pastoral associate Aaron Bianco walked into his church office and discovered a spray-painted hate message. Nearly four years later, he received another memorable message — this time at the Vatican, from the pope.
Young Voices: I reunited with an old friend, a gay woman, who was willing to share with me, a straight man, her pain and wistful reminiscence of a church that seemed to reject her.
A network of lawyers, politicians and human rights advocates seeking an end to the criminalization of homosexuality met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Struggling Catholics who attended the "(Re)Imagining Catholic Vocation" event, sponsored by Call to Action, responded "that I didn't know this space existed," said the organizer.
Excerpt: 'The problem is that if you tell the truth about the "closet" and the special friendships in the Vatican, people won't believe you. They'll say it's made up. Because here reality goes beyond fiction.'
Grace on the Margins: In a new interview, Francis reasserts the criteria for banning gay men from seminaries. No matter how you interpret his words, they harm and denigrate LGBTQ Catholics.
Nothing gets the pope on the front page of newspapers faster than saying something about homosexuality. This was evident when reports of a book-length interview with Pope Francis focused on what he had to say about gay priests.
The Catholic Church has been slow to recognize the presence of homosexual men in the priesthood, which is why superiors must exercise care in helping gay candidates prepare for a life of celibacy or leave the seminary, Pope Francis said.
"You will never stop the Holy Spirit from moving through her people," Aaron Bianco said in his farewell to St. John the Evangelist Parish after he resigned following harassment.
