More from the Pope Benedict XVI - endorsed 2011 YOU CAT!

Question:

"65 What about people who feel they are homosexual?"

Answer:

"The Church believes that, in the order if creation, man and woman are designed to need each other's complementary traits and to enter into a mutual relationship so as to give life to children.

"That is why homosexual practices cannot be approved by the Church.

"Christians owe all persons respect and love, however, regardless if their sexual orientation, because all people are respected and loved by God [Catechism of the Catholic Church 2358 - 2359].

"There is no man on earth who is not descended from a union of a mother and a father.

"Therefore it is a painful experience for many homosexually oriented people that they do not feel erotically attracted to the opposite sex and necessarily miss out on the physical fruitfulness of the union between man and woman according to human nature and the divine order of creation.

"Nevertheless, God often leads souls to himself along unusual paths: a lack, a loss or a wound -- if accepted and affirmed -- can become a springboard for throwing oneself into the arms of God: the God who brings good out of everything and whose greatness can be discovered in redemption even more than in creation..."