I hope that the church will change with the times, similar to the way their practices and beliefs with respect to racism have changed since the 60s [1].<p>However, I wouldn't take the pope's words as a sign of that change. I have friends who are gay or lesbian and formerly part of the catholic church. When he says that god loves them, I assume it is in the sense that god loves everyone, even sinners. From what I understand, gay people are seen kind of like drug addicts by the church. People who are worthy of pitty, but are still considered "sick".<p>Being told that you are sick from your earliest memories because of who you are attracted to, something you don't have control over, leaves lasting scars on a person. All of my gay friends who left catholicism grew up killing that part of themselves and pretending to be someone they are not for like the first two decades of their life. The rest of their life has been spent trying to rebuild themselves from that. From literally being taught to hate themselves for what they are.<p>The one friend I have who did come out as a teenager was dissowned by her parents and had to move in with a relative. She spent two years living out of a cousin's house and people like her who are less fortunate are out there without a home right now for the crime of being gay.<p>I really hope that the church will adapt and recognize the real damage they are inflicting on children, but like I said, I'm not very optimistic.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_race" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_race</a>