A bishop takes a picture with a tablet during a synod of bishops in Paul VI's hall at the Vatican October 6, 2014. Pope Francis on Monday opened the Roman Catholic assembly that will discuss marriage, gay couples, birth control and other moral issues
A bishop takes a picture with a tablet during a synod of bishops in Paul VI's hall at the Vatican October 6, 2014. Pope Francis on Monday opened the Roman Catholic assembly that will discuss marriage, gay couples, birth control and other moral issues, telling his bishops to speak frankly and not be afraid of upsetting him. REUTERS/Max Rossi REUTERS/Max Rossi

The final report of the 2014 Vatican Synod has been revised and as expected, the earlier remarks it had made on members of the LGBT community had been reworded to mean that such people remain unwelcome in the Catholic church. Despite the unfortunate withdrawal, the global Catholic LGBT praised the efforts of the progressives to include their plight, which they regarded as the first step of future efforts to fight for their cause.

The interim report issued by the major Synod, an assembly of 200 Roman Catholic bishops from around the world, on the family at the Vatican is called a "relatio." It earlier got embroiled in a heated controversy when the initial draft included three paragraphs that highlighted the sentiments of the Catholic LGBT community. Conservative bishops blasted the language as well as the message it intends to impart. They ultimately won.

The revised final document now just had a two-paragraph section dealing with homosexuals titled "Pastoral attention towards persons with homosexual orientations." Using more vague and general language, it said gays "should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity" and that discrimination against gays "is to be avoided." Moreover, it said that "there is no foundation whatsoever" to equate gay unions with "God's design of matrimony and the family."

The Catholic LGBT members somehow knew it would still come to this. Still, they lauded the efforts of the more progressive members in the Synod to have brought up their cause. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group in the United States, believed the lid of Pandora's box has just been lifted. "I think the bishops who spoke, they're just going to be more emboldened next year," he said. "As they say, it ain't over 'til it's over."

Danton Remoto, a gay rights activist, said the first version of the relatio had been a "good starting point," never mind that conservatives continued to lord over it. "We don't expect major earthquakes to happen [during the synod] because the Catholic Church is an old institution and change will not happen overnight," he told portal GMA News Online.

Pope Francis had said the full draft document, including the rejected paragraphs, should be published.

Related:

Not In This Lifetime: Vatican Still Not Open To The Idea, Realities Of Gays