Jordi Valls: "Francis has had kind words for gays, but he hasn't changed any precepts."

BarcelonaJordi Valls is the spokesperson for theChristian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, a group to whom Pope Francis spoke kindly, showing understanding and empathy. However, they have not achieved recognition by the Church because, as the pontiff said, the Vatican maintains that "homosexuality is not a crime, but it is a sin."

Francis's papacy has certainly been more open toward the LGBTI community, but it has oscillated between being cold and warm.

— Compared to the two previous popes [John Paul II and Benedict XVI], Francis has represented a radical change, because others were saying terrible things about us. And at least he has said, and I insist, he has said very praiseworthy things, such as, for example, that we cannot be discriminated against, who is he to condemn, that homosexual families are families, etc. If only for that, it is already positive, but what we criticize him for is that he has not been able to translate words into precepts. The catechism today continues to say that we are outside the biblical design, that our orientation is objectively disordered, that under no circumstances can our families be accepted, and this is still in black and white.

Did he lack courage or was he facing frontal opposition?

— One of the pillars of Francis's thought is unity, and so everything that divides him holds him back when it comes to changing doctrine. So, all he's done is say fine words, that document on blessings, that we can bless ourselves, but as individuals, not as couples, but at the same time he welcomes a group of transsexuals, or meets with the Jesuit James Martin, who provides pastoral care for homosexuals in the United States. So, it's a kind of loving and hurting.

So the good words and goodwill haven't gone too far, but for the Vatican, everything remains the same?

— The catechism, which is the text that says what is right and what is wrong, has not changed. But to be optimistic, we must say that if the word "right" has been pronounced for the first time in the Vatican, gayIt's his merit, I mean, no other pope or monsignor had ever uttered this word. So, this is a very important step forward. Or to say that we can't discriminate, that homosexuality isn't a crime, it's a sin, and that we are all sinners. I mean, he's taken steps like that, but he still needed to take the final step. We hope the next pope will do this.

Some names of conservative cardinals are making strong appearances in the conclave.

— [Vatican journalist] Vicenç Lozano speaks of an organization paid by the movements neocons from the United States, who are working to prevent a pope like Francis from emerging. And these people have even gone so far as to say, in all their words, that if they had already been there in 2013, Francis wouldn't be here.

Do you think the Church has missed an opportunity to catch up with the death of Francis?

— The Church has remained anthropologically anchored in medieval society. I would say that modernism hasn't even arrived for the Church. And, of course, this is an unfinished business. A very important part of the Church has been on that path since the 1970s, when Pope Paul VI approved the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which prohibited marriages, contraceptives... And all his advisors told him not to approve it, but he went ahead with it, and the fact is that the vast majority of Catholic marriages ignore that encyclical because they see that it makes no sense.

Society has also accepted LGBTI groups for decades, but what's happening in the churches?

— The vast majority of communities are fully inclusive, such as Catholics who do not belong to ultraconservative movements or are not dominated by a priest who wants to be a bishop. Now all that's left is for the bishops and the Vatican to take the step.