(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, the French-born archbishop of Algiers, Algeria, in a preface for the newly released heterodox book Gays and Catholics: The Church Put to the Test of Reality, lamented that the Church is still struggling to accept homosexuals as they are and praised the efforts of Pope Francis to end the “judgment” of homosexuals.

In his preface, published in English by Outreach, Cardinal Vesco, who has a history of heterodoxy, stressed that those with same-sex attraction suffer because of the judgments they’ve faced both from the Church and western society for centuries. Citing a radically pro-LGBT theologian, James Alison, Vesco contradicted Catholic teaching by calling same-sex attraction “part of the order of creation” and not “disordered.”

The prelate also praised Pope Francis’ Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed for the “spontaneous” blessing of same-sex “couples” and his infamous “Who am I to judge?” remarks as significant steps forward for Catholics who identify as homosexual.

“Homosexuality has no obvious reason, and we must accept this element of ignorance regarding God’s creative work. Nor is homosexuality part of the norm, and in that sense it is not normal — provided, of course, that the opposite of normal is not abnormal,” Vesco wrote.

“I like the definition given by James Alison in his contribution: Homosexual orientation is a regularly occurring non-pathological minority variant in the human condition,” he added. “This definition places homosexuality within the order of creation and not within that of disorder or pathology. It also places it within the realm of singularity.”

READ: Meet the architects of the Synod’s challenge to Church teaching on homosexuality

The Catholic Church has consistently taught that homosexual activity is mortally sinful and that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered.” According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’”

It’s also worth noting that Alison was suspended from clerical ministry by the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Congregation of Clergy for contradicting this clear Church teaching.

Cardinal Vesco further decried the fact that homosexuals — without making a distinction between those with same-sex attraction and those who are committing sodomy, a sin that cries to Heaven — have found difficulty being accepted in Western society for centuries.

“For centuries, and still today in many places, difference in sexual orientation has been intolerable, denied or banished,” the Algerian prelate said. “And today in our Western societies, this difference is just as much denied by a drive toward standardization. In both cases, it is this same refusal to acknowledge difference that raises questions.”

The cardinal then noted how the Church has failed to respect homosexuals for “what they are” and praised the progress made under Pope Francis’ pontificate through Fiducia Supplicans and his “Who am I to judge?” remark.

“How painful it is to recognize that, faced with a human reality so complex and potentially so painful, we in the Church struggle so much to find the right words and to reconcile the solidity of Christian anthropology with the truth of existential experiences that must be accompanied and respected for what they are,” he wrote.

“Pope Francis’s Who am I to judge? caused a sensation, yet he was merely stating the possibility for the Church not only to refrain from setting itself up as judge and guardian of doctrinal truth but at least to demonstrate a salutary lack of knowledge and non-judgement of individuals,” Vesco continued.

“Several contributors refer to the magisterial text ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ as a significant step forward. Indeed, while the Church’s doctrine on marital morality is carefully reiterated in the preamble, it allows for a major pastoral advance,” he added. “For my part, I do not believe that the intention of this text was to permit only a ‘hush-hush’ blessing of same-sex couples, as has sometimes been understood. What, in my view, constitutes the extreme pastoral — and ultimately doctrinal — value of this text is the reminder that God blesses each of his creatures, whatever their state of life.”

READ: Vatican again endorses ‘blessing’ same-sex ‘couples’ just not ‘formally’

Vesco has previously promoted pro-LGBT and other heterodoxy. In 2024, shortly after the African bishops, led by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, rejected the call for same-sex “blessings” outlined in Fiducia Supplicans, the prelate disassociated from the African bishops.

“This is not what we intended to convey to our dioceses,” he said, lending his personal support to the official welcome of Fiducia Supplicans issued by the Northern African bishops.

Later that year, after being made a cardinal, he welcomed Amoris Laetitia’s openness for the divorced and “remarried” to receive Holy Communion, saying that for him adultery is only “when you have two people in your life at the same time.”

The Church has consistently taught that divorced and “remarried” people are not to be admitted to Holy Communion because they are living in a state of grave sin. This teaching is enshrined in canon law.