Pope Francis

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy is releasing a new document (dated December 8, 2016) entitled “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” which is a set of guidelines for priestly formation. The document notes, “The Holy Father Francis has approved the present General Executive Decree and has ordered its publication.”

November 4, 2016—“DignityUSA is deeply disappointed by Pope Francis’ recent reaffirmation of Pope John Paul II's statement that the ordination of women will never be possible in the Catholic Church,” said the organization’s executive director, Marianne Duddy-Burke.

Indianapolis, IN. October 2, 2016. In remarks at a gathering of Catholics in Georgia, Pope Francis termed what he calls “gender theory” “the great enemy of marriage.”  He also said “the whole world is at war trying to destroy marriage,” not with arms, “but with ideas.” He repeated his claim that the Church has “to defend ourselves from ideological colonization.”

Boston, MA. August 1, 2016. During a meeting with Polish bishops while attending World Youth Day, Pope Francis concluded his remarks by complaining that children are being taught “that everyone can choose their gender.” He also called this “ideological colonization” by “very influential countries.”

Boston, MA. June 26, 2016--Leaders of DignityUSA, the organization of LGBTQ Catholics and allies committed to equality and justice for LGBTQ people, welcomed the statement of Pope Francis today that the Church must apologize to gay people and to other groups that it has let down or offended throughout history.  The Pope’s comments echoed similar remarks made last week by one of his closest advisors, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Germany.

April 8, 2016, Boston, MA. Pope Francis’ long-anticipated response to two sessions of a world-wide Synod on the Family, an Apostolic Exhortation entitled “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), is a tremendous disappointment to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Catholics and their families, says DignityUSA, a leading organization of Catholics committed to LGBT equality.

Speaking to a group of Vatican judges as Italy’s Senate prepares to vote on recognizing civil unions for same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples, Pope Francis said that the recent Synods on the Family tell the world “there can be no confusion between the family God wants and any other type of union.” The Pope added, “The family, founded on indissoluble matrimony that unites and allows procreation, is part of God’s dream and that of his Church for the salvation of humanity.” He affirmed that the Church continues to propose marriage “in its essential elements – offspring, the good of spou