DCD Outreach

Greetings to my fellow Catholics and other Christians in Ghana. I know that Ghana is considering how homosexual and transgender persons should be treated. To help you, below are two items:
1. Part of the interview of Pope Francis at the Vatican by a reporter from the Associated Press (AP) on January 24, 2023. Originally in Spanish, the English translation can be found at:https://dignitycanada.org/Ghana_app.pdf
2. The handwritten response in Spanish of Pope Francis to Fr. James Martin, SJ in New York City who wrote to Pope Francis on January 26, 2023 asking for clarification on part of the AP interview.
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Correspondence between Fr. James Martin, SJ and Pope Francis on January 26 and 27, 2023:

Letter from Fr. Martin:
1) Holy Father, thank you for your strong call to decriminalize homosexuality. Why did you decide to say this at this time?
2) There seems to have been some confusion about your comment, “Being gay is a sin,” which, of course, is not part of church teaching. My feeling was that you were simply repeating what others might say hypothetically. So, do you think that simply being gay is a sin?
3) What would you say to Catholic bishops who still support the criminalization of homosexuality?

The pope’s hand-written response to Fr. Martin, S.J., appears below, translated from the Spanish.

Dear brother,

Thank you for your letter.
It is not the first time that I speak of homosexuality and of homosexual persons.

1) And I wanted to clarify that it is not a crime, in order to stress that criminalization is neither good nor just.
2) When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault. As you can see, I was repeating something in general. I should have said “It is a sin, as is any sexual act outside of marriage.” This is to speak of “the matter” of sin, but we know well that Catholic morality not only takes into consideration the matter, but also evaluates freedom and intention; and this, for every kind of sin.
3) And I would tell whoever wants to criminalize homosexuality that they are wrong.

In a televised interview, where we spoke with natural and conversational language, it is understandable that there would not be such precise definitions.

I pray for you and for your work. Please do the same for me.
May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin protect you.
Fraternally,
Francis

Greetings to my fellow Catholics and other Christians in Ghana. I know that Ghana is considering how homosexual and transgender persons should be treated. To help you, below are two items:
1. Part of the interview of Pope Francis at the Vatican by a reporter from the Associated Press (AP) on January 24, 2023. Originally in Spanish, the English translation can be found at:https://dignitycanada.org/Ghana_app.pdf
2. The handwritten response in Spanish of Pope Francis to Fr. James Martin, SJ in New York City who wrote to Pope Francis on January 26, 2023 asking for clarification on part of the AP interview.
+++
Correspondence between Fr. James Martin, SJ and Pope Francis on January 26 and 27, 2023:
Letter from Fr. Martin:
1) Holy Father, thank you for your strong call to decriminalize homosexuality. Why did you decide to say this at this time?
2) There seems to have been some confusion about your comment, “Being gay is a sin,” which, of course, is not part of church teaching. My feeling was that you were simply repeating what others might say hypothetically. So, do you think that simply being gay is a sin?
3) What would you say to Catholic bishops who still support the criminalization of homosexuality?

The pope’s hand-written response to Fr. Martin, S.J., appears below, translated from the Spanish.

Dear brother,

Thank you for your letter.

It is not the first time that I speak of homosexuality and of homosexual persons.

1) And I wanted to clarify that it is not a crime, in order to stress that criminalization is neither good nor just.
2) When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. Of course, one must also consider the circumstances, which may decrease or eliminate fault. As you can see, I was repeating something in general. I should have said “It is a sin, as is any sexual act outside of marriage.” This is to speak of “the matter” of sin, but we know well that Catholic morality not only takes into consideration the matter, but also evaluates freedom and intention; and this, for every kind of sin.
3) And I would tell whoever wants to criminalize homosexuality that they are wrong.

In a televised interview, where we spoke with natural and conversational language, it is understandable that there would not be such precise definitions.

I pray for you and for your work. Please do the same for me.
May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin protect you.

Fraternally,
Francis

DCD Outreach DCD Outreach strives to communicate how the Divine accepts and rejoices in diversity.

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics' (GNRC) Contemplative Spiritual Formation committee invites you to its bi-weekly contemplative gathering, in English. Please extend the invitation to anyone else you know who may be interested.

Date and Time: Saturday, May 30, 2026
7 a.m. San Francisco/Vancouver;
8 a.m. Denver/Calgary/Mexico;
9 a.m. Chicago/Winnipeg/Lima;
10 a.m. Toronto/New York;
11 a.m. Sao Paulo/Buenos Aires/Santiago;
3 p.m. London/Kinshasa;
4 p.m. Hamburg/Zurich;
7:30 p.m. New Delhi;
10 p.m. Manila/Singapore/Hong Kong

A new description of our contemplative gatherings on the GNRC website that can be found at https://rainbowcatholics.org/csf You are welcome to share the link with anyone else who might be interested in joining us.

Topic: "You Are Not Your Thoughts".
(Program can be found at the above link.)

How to Join Us:
We will be meeting in the Gaia Chapel of the online Meditation Chapel. If you are a first-time user of the chapel, we ask you to do the following in advance, in order to join us:
See the Meditation Chapel website that can be found at https://meditationchapel.org/welcome-english/ to learn what it has to offer us.
Register to become a user. You will be asked to follow the rules of conduct. Register as a chapel user at https://meditationchapel.org/getting-started/ .
At our start time click on the link for the Gaia Chapel which will be sent to your registered email once you register. Bookmark this link because it will be the same for all future gatherings of the Rainbow Contemplatives (the name of our group).
For enquiries or to get help with the Chapel link, you can get in touch with Grael Tuason via FB messenger or his email at [email protected], or Frank Testin at [email protected]

Hope to see you on Saturday!
Shalom,
🙏
GNRC Contemplative Spiritual Formation Committee

Please join us in our online contemplative prayer gathering.
Date and Time: Saturday, February 21st.
7 a.m. San Francisco/Vancouver;
8 a.m. Denver, Calgary;
9 a.m. Chicago/Winnipeg/Mexico;
10 a.m. Toronto/New York/Lima;
12 noon Sao Paulo/Buenos Aires/Santiago;
3 p.m. London;
4 p.m. Hamburg/Zurich/Kinshasa;
8:30 p.m. New Delhi;
11 p.m. Manila/Singapore/Hong Kong
Please extend the invitation to anyone else you know who may be interested.
The theme will be “Rightful and Radical Amazement” and the program can be found athttps://rainbowcatholics.org/.../2026/02/20260221-CSF-FT.pdf
Further information on our contemplative prayer group can be found at https://rainbowcatholics.org/csf/
We meet every two weeks on Saturdays (e.g., Feb. 21, Mar. 7, 21...)

Contemplative Spiritual Formation - Global Network of Rainbow Catholics Contemplative Spiritual Formation Jan 23, 2026 | Featured-wide, Uncategorized ContemplativeSpiritualFormation Meets Online Every Two Weeks The format Our usual 90-min. format: Check-in; Spoken opening prayer; 20 min. of silent, apophatic prayer (i.e., emptying the mind of words, thoughts and ideas ....

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics' (GNRC) Contemplative Spiritual Formation committee invites you to our contemplative gathering on Feb. 7th.
Argel Oclarit from the Philippines will share his experiences and insights gained from presenting his paper, "Synodality in the (Non)Reception of Fiducia Supplicans among Filipino Catholic Priests and Same-Sex Couples," at the 2026 Vincent's School of Theology's International Conference.
Please extend the invitation to anyone else you know who may be interested.
Date and Time: Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026
7 a.m. San Francisco/Vancouver;
8 a.m. Denver, Calgary;
9 a.m. Chicago/Winnipeg/Mexico;
10 a.m. Toronto/New York/Lima;
12 noon Sao Paulo/Buenos Aires/Santiago;
3 p.m. London;
4 p.m. Hamburg/Zurich/Kinshasa;
8:30 p.m. New Delhi;
11 p.m. Manila/Singapore/Hong Kong
How to Join Us:
We will be meeting in the Gaia Chapel of the online Meditation Chapel. If you are a first-time user of the chapel, we ask you to do the following in advance, in order to join us:
See the Meditation Chapel website that can be found here to learn what it has to offer us.
Register to become a user. You will be asked to follow the rules of conduct. Register as a chapel user here.
At our start time click on the link for the Gaia Chapel which will be sent to your registered email once you register. Bookmark this link because it will be the same for all future gatherings of the Rainbow Contemplatives (the name of our group).
For enquiries or if you have difficulty obtaining the link to the Gaia Chapel, you can get in touch with Grael Tuason via FB messenger or his email at [email protected], or Frank Testin at [email protected]
Hope you to see you on Saturday!