Blair calls on Vatican to rethink views on gays

Published on Wednesday 8 April 2009 22:08

TONY Blair has said the Vatican should rethink "entrenched" attitudes towards homosexuality, claiming its views on gay rights were out of step with those of ordinary Roman Catholics.

In an interview with the gay lifestyle magazine Attitude, the former prime minister disagreed with the Pope's stance and argued most Catholics would have a more tolerant approach to homosexuality.

His comments, published yesterday, are a challenge to the Vatican which remains opposed to gay marriage and decrees that homosexual acts are sinful. Last year, Pope Benedict XVI sparked fury in the gay community when he suggested that homosexuality was as big a threat to humankind as the destruction of the rain forests.

Mr Blair, who converted to Catholicism after leaving Downing Street in 2007, said views on homosexuality had to keep "evolving".

He added: "There is a huge generational difference here. There's probably that same fear amongst religious leaders that if you concede ground (on homosexuality], because attitudes and thinking evolve over time, where does that end? You'd start having to rethink many, many things."