I activist for the rights of LGBT people at the meeting with Cardinal Parolin

Article* by Jon Miller published on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation (Great Britain) On April 8, 2019, freely translated by Giacomo Tessaro

I was part of the group of LGBT+ activists that He met the man at the head of the Vatican (Not the Pope, but his "Prime Minister", the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin) to discuss the role of the Catholic Church in condemning the laws that, in various parts of the world, punish homosexual acts. This meeting aroused conflicting reactions to us. As we walked for St. Peter's Square and headed towards the Vatican entrance, the tourist guide explained to us how Bernini's vast colonnade, with his curvature, symbolizes the open arms of the Catholic Church.

I am a gay man, married to a man, and who spends much of his time in activism for the LGBT+cause, and as such I thought that perhaps this warm embrace is not intended for me. The Catholic Church seems to me a place of suffering for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; For centuries he has been condemned those who do not conform to his prominent sexual, family and gender models. Yet, like many other people, when Pope Francis climbed to the Soglio I had many hopes. Before a year he passed, he pronounced his famous impromptu response on gays: "But who am I to judge?".

Perhaps this is the spirit with which the Church has granted a private hearing with the Pope to about fifty LGBT+ activists from all over the world; But a few days before the hearing took place (after what the Washington Post described how "A turbine of advances and denials" On what the pontiff would have said), the meeting was canceled and replaced with a hearing by Cardinal Parolin.

Of course we were disappointed, but it was still an unprecedented meeting: the cardinal would have welcomed a group of lawyers, magistrates, activists for human rights and businessmen. Leonardo Raznovich, representative of the International Bar Association (International Association of Legal Professions), invited the Vatican to condemn the criminalization of homosexual acts.

Homosexual relationships are still a crime in more than 70 countries. A Vatican declaration would undoubtedly give new vigor to the appeal to abolish this crime in these countries. In Kenya, for example, a country with a Christian majority, where 33% of the population is Catholic, a clear signal by the Church would strengthen the hope that the Supreme Court next May will abolish the crime of homosexual acts. As Raznovich explained, the result of these laws is that LGBT+ individuals are pointed out as criminals, a stigma that is used to justify discrimination, abuse, acts of violence, up to the murder.

Cardinal Parolin listened with patience and attention. He was sitting on a high clog, surrounded by members of the Curia, like a judge during a trial. A large wooden crucifix loomed on him. Parolin looked like a figure out of time, the current occupant of a role that has existed for centuries. We were gathered in a large room, similar to a crypt, with vaulted walls many meters thick.

In such a scenario, it was difficult to imagine the possibility of a change; Still, the cardinal was open to this possibility, talking about "Themes of common interest" and ensuring that "Your concern, or the dignity of people, is also the concern of the Church". He then continued: "We must have compassion for those suffering" and stressed that "The doctrine of the Church is very clear about the refusal of all kinds of violence against the human person". In response to the invitation to publish a declaration, Parolin promised to report to the Pope, and that "[The invitation] will be taken seriously".

Maybe there are others too "Themes of common interest": for example, it is shown how to operate for inclusion [of LGBT+people] demonstrates the ability of a nation to develop in a peaceful way and to provide for the needs of its citizens. Discrimination towards LGBT+people, on the contrary, is always associated with endemic corruption and economic stagnation. This is certainly the common ground that can make us act in unison: lawyers, activists, businessmen, together with Cardinal Parolin and the whole Catholic Church.

* All the opinions expressed in this article must be referred to the author, not to Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Original text: The Vatican Must Condemn Criminalization of Gay Sex