This article originally appeared in Bay Area Reporter. Pope Francis, who made the Catholic Church less hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, died Monday in Rome. He was 88.For most of his life, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and at the time he was elected the churchs 266th pontiff, he was the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, which made him the first pope from the Americas, and the first from outside Europe since the eighth century.In his 12 years on the throne of St. Peter, Francis invoked the ire of some conservatives in the church who saw in him a move back to the liberalizing tendencies of the mid-20th century that had been halted by his predecessors, popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Francis published a papal encyclical on climate change, spoke on behalf of migrants, and butted heads with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the latter of whom is Catholic, and whom he met for the first time April 20, which was Easter Sunday.But perhaps nowhere was this dissatisfaction more evident than on the issue of LGBTQ+ peoples place in the church, which with over 1.4 billion members is the worlds largest Christian denomination. Long-standing Catholic teaching is that while homosexuality isnt sinful per se, it is a sin to have sex with someone of the same sex.Shortly after he became pope in 2013, Francis became The Advocates person of the year after he said to a reporter, If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?At the time, the prominent LGBTQ+ publication stated this was a stark change in rhetoric from his two predecessors.Read moreThe post Pope Francis, who changed Catholic approach to LGBTQs, dies appeared first on News Is Out.