Pope Honors Catholic Priests, Nuns who Cared for HIV Victims

Pope Francis has paid tribute to Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople who helped care for people with HIV and AIDS during the early period of the epidemic in the U.S. "at great risk to their profession and reputation."

Francis offered the words of praise in a letter to Michael O'Loughlin, national correspondent for the Jesuit magazine America, who wrote the book "Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear," out this month.

"Instead of indifference, alienation and even condemnation these people let themselves be moved by the mercy of the Father and allowed that to become their own life's work; a discreet mercy, silent and hidden, but still capable of sustaining and restoring the life and history of each one of us," Francis wrote.

O'Loughlin provided the text of Francis' Aug. 17 letter in an essay published Monday in the New York Times, recounting his experience as a gay Catholic reporting the project and the tensions in the 1980s among the Catholic hierarchy, the gay community and AIDS activists to confront the epidemic.

In the letter, Francis thanked O'Loughlin "for shining a light on the lives and bearing witness to the many priests, religious sisters and lay people, who opted to accompany, support and help their brothers and sisters who were sick from HIV and AIDS at great risk to their profession and reputation."

Francis' letter was praised by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit and editor at large of America who has advocated for the Catholic Church to build bridges with the LGBT community. In an email, Martin said Francis' letter "is another significant step in the pope's continual outreach to LGBTQ people."

The Vatican holds that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered."