Archbishop Piero Marini, the chamberlain to former Pope Benedict, has said the Catholic Church is changing and called for civil unions for gay couples.

Marini, who was a senior official for the conservative Benedict, recognized ‘same-sex couples need civil rights and civil unions. But we can not call them “marriage”’.

Speaking at a bishops’ meeting in Costa Rica, Central America, Marini commented also on the new Pope, Francis: ‘Now we can breathe fresh air, the church is changing.’

Liverpool Anglican Bishop James Jones has broken ranks with other senior Church of England clergy to call for blessing services to be offered to same-sex couples in civil partnerships.

‘Over the years I have shared with you my thinking about how the gospel of embrace may be felt by those who are gay,’ Jones said in an address to the Diocese of Liverpool Synod.

The election today (13 March) of Pope Francis as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has led LGBT groups to call for a Pope different from his anti-gay predecessor Benedict XVI.

'For decades the Catholic hierarchy has been in need of desperate reform,' said Herndon Graddick (pictured), president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Pope Benedict XVI may have officially resigned, but he will not give up his alleged secret boyfriend.

Personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein, dubbed ‘Gorgeous Georg’, will continue to be the former leader of the Roman Catholic Church’s personal secretary.

Since 2005, the two have had breakfast, lunch, dinner together every day, but not anymore as Gänswein will now be serving both pontiffs.

He will live with Benedict at the monastery inside the Vatican, and keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope’s household.

Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his unexpected resignation, a bolt of lightning struck St Peter’s Basilica.

Many say it's unequivocally a sign from God.

If so, I'm hoping it's an Amen moment signaling the end of an oppressive era of LGBTQ bashing as the church now moves forward.

Pope Benedict XVI is to resign, the Vatican has announced today (11 February).

The 85-year-old Roman Catholic leader who has called gay people a 'defection of human nature' and a threat to world peace will leave his post on 28 February.

The Vatican has said the post of Pope will be left temporarily vacant.

An American priest has stopped having sex with his wife after his own sect had become too accepting of gays.

Deacon John Cornelius, who has spent 20 years as an Episcopalian preacher, was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest yesterday (27 January).

As part of the deal of becoming Catholic, the 64-year-old and father of three agreed to become celibate.

Sharyl, his wife of 33 years, is reportedly happy with the new arrangement.

A progressive US Catholic Church has announced it will ordain a transgender man on 19 January.

Shannon Kearns will be tasked with starting a new parish in Minneapolis by The North American Old Catholic Church (NAOCC), aiming to combine traditional Catholic beliefs with embracing all people.

Kearns transitioned while he was studying for his Master of Divinity in New York.

He said: ‘I am honoured and humbled to have my calling to ministry affirmed by the North American Old Catholic Church.

‘I look forward to many years serving as a priest.’

Organizers of masses for gay Catholics have denied the Archbishop of Westminster's decision to scrap the services in Soho, London, was motivated by homophobia.

The so-called Soho Masses at the Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street were started six years ago to 'welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics, their parents, friends and families.'

The president of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in East and Central Africa has repudiated quotes attributed to him by Uganda’s state owned media which claimed to show that he supported the country’s controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Pastor Blaisious Ruguri was quoted by the New Vision newspaper on December 17 as saying that, ‘our stand is zero tolerance to this vice and to western influence on this crucial issue because God says no to it.’

Equalities and the Church of England. Right now it doesn’t seem as though they mix terribly well.

The General Synod’s House of Laity (one of the church’s governing bodies) voted against proposals for allowing women to be bishops on Tuesday (20 November). All around are cries about equalities legislation and forcing the church to comply.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been asked to investigate the country’s Conference of Catholic Bishops over their involvement in political campaigning.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops has a IRC 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. However groups with that tax exempt status are banned from participating in political campaigns or endorsing or opposing political candidates.