Pope Francis responded to a letter sent by a group of homosexuals asking for an opening in dialogue with the Catholic Church. The information was reported by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. However, the Vatican has not confirmed the exchange of correspondence.
The letter, sent to the pope in June, was considered by the pontiff a gesture of "spontaneous confidence". According to the local press, the document lamented the way the Church "fueled homophobia" and asked the Vatican to start treating gays as people and not as a "category".
Innocenzo Pontillo was one of the Italians responsible for sending the letter and stated that he did not expect a response from the pope. "None of us could have imagined he would do something like that," he said.
Since assuming the top position at the Vatican, Francis has made positive statements regarding homosexuality. In one of his recent speeches, the pontiff declared that the Church was "obsessed with abortion and gays" and should focus on other matters.
After all, "the pastoral ministry of the Church cannot be obsessed with transmitting an unarticulated set of doctrines to be insistently imposed", declared the Pope at the time.
