Pope says anti-gay laws are a “sin” and unjust

The Pope has again spoken out about criminalizing people who are gay.

Pope Francis spoke to reporters while returning from South Sudan. He was on a flight alongside the leaders of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. The three clerics had traveled to South Sudan to appeal for peace in the war-torn district.

The Pope told reporters that laws against gay people were a sin and “injustice”, reports Reuters.

“This is not right. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God,” said the Pope. “God loves them. God accompanies them… condemning a person like this is a sin.”

“Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.”

He also said the issue of criminalizing gay people was “a problem that cannot be ignored” and reiterated that the Catholic church would not carry out same-sex marriages, but expressed support for civil unions.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, backed him up. The Church of England leader said, “I entirely agree with every word he said there.”

Iain Greenshields, of the Church of Scotland, also concurred.

“There is nowhere in the four Gospels that I see anything other than Jesus expressing love to whoever he meets, and as Christians that is the only expression that we can give to any human being in any circumstance.”

Pope Francis has offered a far more accepting stance toward gay people than his predecessors. However, the Catholic Church officially still regards same-sex sexual behavior as “deviant”.

When he became Pope in 2013, the Pope suggested gay sex was a sin but that being gay, as a sexual orientation, was not.

He has previously called on parents to love their LGBTQ+ children.

Related: Pope tells parents not to do this one thing if their child is gay

His latest comments arrive a couple of weeks since he last spoke out on the issue. He said in an interview on January 24th, “Being homosexual isn’t a crime.” He also said laws against gay people were “unjust.”

At the moment, 66 countries have laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity. Around ten having the death penalty.

It was historic for the Pope to travel to South Sudan alongside the leaders of the Churches of England and Scotland. It’s unprecedented for the three leaders to make a blunt, joint condemnation of laws that criminalize gay people. Together, the churches claim over 2 billion followers around the world.