Father James Martin, the consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, recently sent Pope Francis a letter imploring him to answer the questions Martin most frequently receives. 

Father Martin was prompted to ask these questions as a fuel for his Outreach initiative: a website that brings together essays in a variety of languages to help reach LGBT Catholics who have felt pushed away from the church. 

The first question surrounded what the most important thing that LGBT Catholics should know about God. 

In response to this, Pope Francis wrote, “God is Father and he does not disown any of his children, and ‘the style’ of God is ‘closeness, mercy and tenderness.’ Along this path you will find God.”

The other two questions surrounded how LGBT Catholics should interact in the church, and Pope Francis dictated that the Acts of the Apostles will aid them in understanding an “image of the living church.” 

He also noted that “The church is a mother and calls together all of her children.” 

Pope Francis related the groups of Catholics to a Biblical parable about people invited to a feast – the poor, the rich, the sinners and the just. He explained how just as no groups were discriminated against in procuring the invitations, LGBT Catholics are God’s children and are welcome in the church. 

The correspondence between the Pope and Father Martin was recently published to the Outreach website. The overall goal of the website is “to help L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics know that God loves them, that they are at the heart of their church and that they have many gifts to offer the People of God.”