In a dramatic shift in tone, the Vatican has released a new document, emphasising that homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognise positive aspects of same-sex couples.
The document was prepared at the half-way point at a two-week assembly of 200 bishops.
It says the Church should challenge itself to find a fraternal space for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.
"Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities?," the document read.
"Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?"
But the document didn't signal any change in the Catholic Church's condemnation of homosexual acts or its opposition to gay marriage.
"The Church furthermore affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman."
The language used in the document is a dramatic shift in tone from past Vatican statements under previous popes.
The document will be the basis for discussion for the second and final week of the assembly, known as a synod.
Pope Francis called the two-week meeting of bishops to discuss how to make church teaching on a host of Catholic family issues - marriage, divorce, homosexuality and sex - more relevant to today's Catholics.
He urged cardinals and bishops in attendance to be open and unafraid of sharing their views.
Earlier in the week, the pope issued a strong signal of support for reform of the approach to marriage, cohabitation and divorce, suggesting that the Church address the present gulf between what it currently says on these issues and what tens of millions of believers actually do.
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