Cardinal Wilton Gregory: "I apologize to the LGBTQ+Catholics"

Text of the speech held by Cardinal Gregory to members of the LGBTQ+ community at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC on January 22, 2025, published in Outreach.Faith (United States) on January 28, 2025. Freely translated by the volunteers of the Gionata project

Our faith is a precious gift, a gift that none of us can really deserve or understand to the end. Each of you, looking in your heart, can remember the people and circumstances that have guided you towards the Catholic faith.

It is no coincidence that I used the verb "guided" to the present: our path of faith never stops, continues until we reach the kingdom that the father has prepared for each of us.

Faith was born from the good example of parents, grandparents, teachers, spouses, children, neighbors, priests and religious who, with their way of living, inspire us to believe, pray and serve others as they do. Even those who receive baptism as a child need the testimony of those around him to discover and really embrace the faith that the sacrament has planted in his heart.

We know it well, because the baptized children who grow without parents or family members who guide them with dedication often cannot live and fully achieve the gift of the faith received in baptism.

I believe that faith sprouts in our life thanks to the good example of the people that God puts next to us.

The way we treated LGBTQ+ people often caused them tears and many of us a profound shame.

This 2025 Jubilee invites us to look at hope. In all these 66 years, I have never regretted being part of this Catholic community of faith, even if my path has been dotted with moments of uncertainty and doubt.

Faith is never a journey without obstacles or deviations. If someone told me that he has never questioned his faith, I think he has never really reflected on the gift he owns.

Which couple has never had moments of doubt about the wisdom or the sense of their union? One of the questions that young people ask me most often is if I have ever had doubts about my faith. Even at a young age, they have already understood that faith is not free from challenges and moments of uncertainty. I can say sincerely that I had many.

The gift of faith does not spare us moments of hesitation, pain and deep questions. You will surely remember the controversy that surrounded the publication of the autobiography of Mother Teresa, in which it openly revealed the struggles and periods of spiritual aridity that marked it along its extraordinary life of holiness.

It seems that true believers, the deeply holy people and even the saints themselves often cross periods of doubt, fear and questions about the gift of faith, which however consider so precious and engaging.

Even those who inspire and glorify the tradition of the Church with their heroic virtue and their extraordinary holiness face long periods of doubt and anxiety. For this reason my faith has never been shaken by the doubts and questions I asked myself. However, I continue to feel pain and embarrassment for the negative images that all Christian communities, including ours, have had to face in recent decades.

I felt the pain of the scandals that touched and seriously damaged the Catholic Church, and the humiliation that derives from the intolerance and bigotry that affected all Christian churches. I felt deeply wounded by the negative example that we Catholics have given to the world with our increasingly hard attitudes towards each other, rejecting people for their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin Or any other difference.

The Catholics, on both sides of the ideological spectrum, have thrown cruel and ruthless convictions against those who do not share their vision of the Church as the only valid. These clashes have brought many people, inside and outside the Church, to give up the idea of ​​being part of such a dysfunctional family.

We bishops and priests also helped to bring shame to this precious Church of Christ, with our weaknesses and the lack of courage and an effective leadership in the face of the sins of the clergy.

There is no room for Christian bigotry, fueled by ignorance and the lack of knowledge of those who define themselves as a Christian but act contrary to the fundamental principles of most of the great traditions of faith.

These days seem so far from the experience of the Church that I met as a child in the parish of the South Side of Chicago. That community fascinated me with his love for the truth and attracted me to the baptismal font.

Growing up, I discovered that each era has its conflicts, disagreements and theological controversies, which sometimes led to the extreme testimony of martyrs.

But today we live in a different world, marked by instant and omnipresent communication. Every thought, opinion or accusation is immediately spread, without the need for evidence or facts, making the work of evangelization even more difficult. This was a reason for me of great pain.

The divisions between world religions are another source of personal suffering. Ecumenical dialogue is an arduous task, but it is the desire of the Holy Spirit, which aspires to the unity for which Christ himself prayed to the night before he died for us. Some events of recent years have brought hope in the hearts of believers, but as many obstacles have made the job even more difficult.

I have never doubted that I had made the right choice in my journey of faith within the Catholic Church, but I am deeply troubled by the condition of the world in which the Church must testify the risen Lord.

I apologize for not having been able to embody the compassion of Christ. The way we treated LGBTQ+ people caused them pain and has brought to many of us shame. I ask for forgiveness with all my heart for the wounds that have removed many people from our family, people who belong to God as much as me.

I apologize not only for the actions of those who in the past have caused scandals and wounds, but also for my lack of courage in bringing healing and hope. So I ask for forgiveness.

*Wilton Daniel Gregory (Chicago, 7 December 1947) is a cardinal of the Catholic Church and, from January 6, 2025, is Archbishop Emeritus and Apostolic Administrator of Washington (United States).

Original text: Cardinal Wilton Gregory: the Apologizes to LGBTQ Catholics