The three paragraphs of the Catechism, read carefully and without the shouting.

The Church distinguishes between the person and the act. She teaches that homosexual acts are contrary to God’s design for sexuality, and in the same breath that people with deep-seated homosexual tendencies must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity, and that every sign of unjust discrimination against them is to be avoided.

What the Church Teaches

Three consecutive paragraphs carry the whole teaching, and they are meant to be read together.

CCC 2357 states that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, contrary to the natural law, and cannot be approved, because Catholic teaching holds that sexual acts belong within marriage between a man and a woman and are ordered towards both union and the possibility of life. It also notes that the psychological origin of homosexuality remains largely unexplained.

CCC 2358 turns to the person. It calls the homosexual inclination itself objectively disordered and describes it as a trial for most of those who experience it, and states that such people must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity, and that every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. This is teaching, not a pastoral suggestion. (An earlier form of this paragraph, in the 1992 first edition, described the condition as “not chosen” – that phrase was removed when the Catechism’s definitive Latin text, the editio typica, was issued in 1997.)

CCC 2359 calls homosexual persons to chastity, and says they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection through self-mastery, friendship, prayer and grace – the same means the Church proposes to every unmarried Catholic.

Where This Comes From

The teaching is not a separate rule aimed at one group of people. It follows from a general account of sexuality that applies to everyone.

• The Church holds that sexual acts have a meaning built into them: the total self-gift of a husband and wife, open to life.
• On that account, every sexual act outside marriage falls short – which includes sex before marriage, adultery, and deliberately sterilised sex within marriage.
• Chastity is asked of every Catholic in every state of life, though what it requires differs.

Whether this account of sexuality is correct is a real question, and it is the actual point of disagreement. But the teaching is at least consistent: it is not applying one standard to most people and a harsher one to a minority.

Common Misunderstandings

“The Church teaches that gay people are disordered.”

CCC 2357 calls the acts themselves “intrinsically disordered” in relation to the natural law; CCC 2358 calls the inclination “objectively disordered” – both phrases are used in the same specialised, technical sense the tradition uses for many human acts and inclinations, judging them against their proper end. Neither is a statement that the person is disordered, and CCC 2358 explicitly calls for the person to be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. The language has caused real pain, and several bishops have said as much.

“Being gay is a sin.”

No. The Church distinguishes an inclination, which carries no guilt, from freely chosen acts, which do. As the CDF’s 1986 letter Homosexualitatis problema puts it, “the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin,” though that inclination is itself a disordered tendency and a trial for the person who has it.

“Compassion in CCC 2358 is just a softener.”

It carries the same authority as the sentence before it. A Catholic who quotes CCC 2357 while ignoring CCC 2358 is quoting half the Catechism.

“The 2023 blessings document changed the teaching.”

Fiducia Supplicans (§31) contemplates a brief, non-liturgical blessing of couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples, who ask for one – but the blessing is directed at the two people asking, not at the union itself, and it neither validates nor approves their situation. The doctrine on marriage and on sexual acts is unchanged. (See also the DDF press release of 4 January 2024, issued to clarify this point after public confusion.)

What It Means in Practice

• If you are a gay Catholic, you are a full member of the Church. Mass, confession, parish life and the sacraments are yours.
• If someone comes out to you, respond first as a friend. The Catechism’s own instruction to you at that moment is respect, compassion and sensitivity.
• Chastity is lived with friendship and community, not alone. Deep, faithful, non-sexual friendship is treated by the Church as a good in its own right, not as a consolation prize.
• Ministries such as Courage exist in many dioceses for those who want support in living the teaching. Nobody is obliged to use them.

Pray With This

Litany of Humility · Prayer to St Joseph · Come, Holy Spirit · Prayer of Abandonment · Litany of Trust

In the Catechism

• CCC 2357 – homosexual acts intrinsically disordered
• CCC 2358 – the inclination objectively disordered; respect, compassion and sensitivity; unjust discrimination to be avoided
• CCC 2359 – the call to chastity and Christian perfection
• CCC 2337-2347 – chastity as it applies to every Catholic

Read the full text: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Three, Section Two.