Last week’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith document marked a departure from Pope Francis’ usual pastoral tone on LGBT issues, even though the pope had approved its publication. This weekend, the pope spoke against “theoretical condemnations,” posing “gestures of love” as an alternative. America Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell spoke with several Vatican officials who told them that the pope’s comments were an effort to distance himself from the document.

Why use anonymous sources for this claim? This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and host Colleen Dulle discuss the pope’s comments and why Vaticanistas use anonymous sources so often.

In the latter half of the show, the hosts discuss Gerry’s recent interview with Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher, which America will be publishing in three parts this week. (Read part 1 on the Middle East here and part 2 on China here.) Archbishop Gallagher spoke about Pope Francis’ diplomatic goals for his recent Iraq trip and the Vatican’s larger goals for influencing the region.

Links from the show: 

Vatican sources suspect Pope Francis was distancing himself from CDF statement on same-sex unions in address

Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq was a historic breakthrough. But will it lead to greater peace in the Middle East?

Pope Francis spoke out against oppression in Myanmar. Why is he silent on China and Hong Kong?

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