The Vatican this month is showing unprecedented, if symbolic, outreach on issues of human sexuality, using what’s believed to be for the first time the term “LGBT” in a planning document for a huge upcoming bishops meeting.
Vatican officials also invited to speak at a second global meeting a prominent advocate for LGBT people, something some gay Catholic groups say has never been done.
The two moves, announced in the past 10 days, are being seen by church watchers as largely an effort to speak in a more respectful way with a younger generation of Catholics who are confronting the church on topics from female priests and abortion to sexuality — but who are clearly not ready to totally walk away from the faith.