US raises Pride flag at embassy to the Holy See

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The United States Embassy to the Holy See raised a pride flag Wednesday to commemorate the beginning of Pride month.

The official social media accounts for the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See boasted of their celebration of Pride month on Wednesday, posting a photo of the rainbow banner adorning their historic office building in Rome.

Raising the Pride banner is a notable decision due to the Catholic Church's historic disapproval of homosexual practices. 

"Today is the start of [Pride Month.] The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people including the LGBTQIA+ community," the embassy said.

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According to the moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, same-sex attraction itself is not a sin, and that all human beings are deserving of dignity regardless of race, creed, gender or sexual orientation.

A rainbow flag flies at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. (U.S. Embassy to the Holy See)

However, sodomy and other homosexual acts are considered a "grave depravity" and the church maintains that "under no circumstances can they be approved."

"Homosexual persons are called to chastity," the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states. "By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection."

The CCC is the universal summary and explanation of Catholic teaching. It is meant to be the final reference point for established Catholic doctrine.

"Pride Month is an opportunity to honor the history of the LGBTQI+ community and their fight for equality," U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai said in a White House statement Wednesday. Fifty-three years after Stonewall, we still have not fully realized a world free of violence and prejudice against LGBTQI+ people."

"President Biden and the entire Biden-Harris Administration are committed to ending discrimination, hate, and bigotry against our fellow citizens," the statement continued. "It is why on his first day in office, President Biden signed executive orders to advance equity in policy and to prohibit discrimination in the federal workforce on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation."

The Holy See is a distinct, sovereign entity separate but related to both the papacy and Vatican City. The Holy See is the worldwide jurisdiction of the pope, making up both the city-state of Vatican City and the pontiff's ecclesiastic authority. 

The U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with the Holy See since the presidency of George Washington.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment on the potential offense the flag could cause in the Vatican, and why the department did not fly pride flags in other, more volatile countries that actively outlaw homosexuality such as Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.

"The United States stands up for and defends the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons. Human rights are universal," the State Department told Fox News Digital in a statement. "A person’s ability to exercise their human rights should never be limited based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics."

"Recognizing that each country context is different, embassies and consulates develop individual plans to raise awareness of violence and human rights abuses targeting LGBTQI+ persons, including appropriate exterior displays," the department concluded.

Pope Francis holds his homily during  a Mass on  the Solemnity of the Epiphany at St. Peter's Basilica on Jan. 6, 2022, in Vatican City, Vatican.  (AleVatican Pool/Getty Images)

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The U.S. Embassy's decision to fly the pride flag is only the latest in a growing cultural clash between the Roman Catholic Church in America and the U.S. civil government.

Last month, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced Pelosi was barred from receiving Communion at the diocese where she resides in California.

"The church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave evil, and that public advocacy for — and support of — abortion is, objectively speaking, such a manifest grave sin," Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said Friday on Facebook. 

"What Archbishop Cordileone did was actually an act of pastoral love and care for Speaker Pelosi and for all those entrusted to his pastoral care, who might have been led astray by her public support of the evil of abortion," Sample said. "That's why what Archbishop Cordileone did was the right thing."

Pope Francis said last year that he has "never refused the Eucharist to anyone," and called Communion "a gift" and not "a prize for the perfect." 

He also condemned abortion in the same interview, explaining that "whoever has an abortion kills."