Vatican adviser scraps Catholic teaching, says God made gays ‘who they are’

A high profile Vatican consultant has publicly departed from Catholic teaching on homosexuality, saying God made “LGBTQ people … who they are.”

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is the editor at large of America Magazine as well as an adviser to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications, made the comment to the pro-homosexual organization PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) on August 18.

Martin spoke on the occasion of PFLAG honoring him with its 2017 Flag Bearer Award for making what it called “lasting contributions to the safety and/or equality of people who are LGBTQ, their families, and allies.” The award will be given at PFLAG’s National Convention in Portland, Oregon, two months from now.

“I'm grateful to PFLAG for this recognition, and I hope that the award serves as another reminder that all LGBTQ people are beloved children of God, that God made them who they are, and that they have as much place in our churches as anyone else,” said Martin.

The Catholic Church teaches, however, that sexual attraction to someone of the same sex is “objectively disordered” since God created sexual attraction to be between a male and female for the sake of procreation.

Because of this, the Church holds that there is no such reality as a “homosexual person,” but only a person who struggles with what the Church calls the “disorder” of being attracted to someone of the same sex.

“Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder, states a 1986 letter on the topic of homosexuality from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the worlds’ bishops.

“[S]pecial concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not,” the letter adds.

The Church teaches that everybody, including those with a disordered sexuality — often expressing itself in lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, homosexuality — are called to chastity, that is to the moral virtue of a rightly ordered sexuality integrated within the person.

The Church furthermore teaches that persons who struggle with same-sex attraction must be “accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.”

While Fr. Martin has accepted various awards from pro-homosexual organizations that sell themselves as “Christian,” this may be the first time he has accepted an award from a secular pro-homosexual organization that is bluntly at odds with Catholic sexual teaching.



PFLAG exists to advance what it calls “equality and full societal affirmation of LGBT people through its threefold mission of support, education, and advocacy.” It has been a leading proponent of same-sex “marriage” and homosexual adoption in its four-decade existence.