Pope John Paul II
Views on sexuality

While taking a traditional position on human sexuality, maintaining the Catholic Church's moral opposition to homosexual acts, John Paul II asserted that people with homosexual inclinations possess the same inherent dignity and rights as others. In his book Memory and Identity, he referred to the "strong pressures" by the European Parliament to recognise homosexual unions as an alternative type of family, with the right to adopt children. In the book, as quoted by Reuters, he wrote: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, more subtle and hidden, perhaps, intent upon exploiting human rights themselves against man and against the family."

In 1986, the Pope approved the release of a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. While not neglecting to comment on homosexuality and moral order, the letter issued multiple affirmations of the dignity of homosexual persons.

A 1997 study determined that of all the pope's public statements, only 3% addressed the issue of sexual morality.
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