(America Magazine) Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the public audience in the Renaissance courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican.
The parents are members of an Italian association, Tenda di Gionata (“Jonathan’s Tent”), which welcomes and provides information and formation to L.G.B.T. Christians, their families and pastoral workers. The association was founded in 2018 by people inspired by a Catholic priest, the late Rev. David Esposito from the Diocese of Fermo in the Marches region of Italy.