In a new and controversial book published by the Vatican, the Bible claims that "there is no clue to a crime involving two same-sex people" • The study also reduces the severity of Sodom's sin

• Pope Francis // Photo: AP

In a new biblical study published by the Vatican, reference is made, among other things, to homosexuality and it is said that the Bible does not deal with the erotic tendency towards a man of the same sex, but only homosexual acts. The study, written by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, also claimed that Sodom's sin was "hospitality," which many see as an attempt by the Catholic Church to normalize homosexuality.

The authors of the book, titled "What Is Man? A Path of Biblical Anthropology," are trying to examine man's biblical understanding. According to Father Jesus Pietro Bobatti, secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Committee, the study was carried out at Pope Francis' request.

According to a report on Life News News, the book's authors quote the biblical story in Genesis that depicts two angels who were staying at Lot's house and were besieged while Sodom's men were on the house "because they wanted to sexually abuse both strangers."

"The story of the city of Sodom illustrates a sin consisting of poor hospitality, hostility, and violence toward the stranger, behavior that is considered very severe and therefore deserves maximum punishment," the book claims. "However, the story is not intended to portray the image of an entire city as ruled by inexpressible homosexual desires, but rather it condemns the conduct of a social and political group that does not accept the stranger with respect and tries to humiliate him."

The study addresses homosexuality over ten pages of the book, in the chapter "The Human Family." In the section entitled "Steps to the Ways", the study also deals with incest, adultery and prostitution. The treatment of homosexuality begins with the emphasis that "the institution of marriage, which consists in the stable relationship between husband and wife, is constantly presented and normative throughout the whole biblical tradition. There are no examples of" unions "legally recognized by same-sex people."

Researchers noted that "the Bible does not speak about the erotic tendency toward a man of the same sex, but only about homosexual acts." They later wrote that "in other passages in the Hebrew Bible relating to the sin of Sodom, there is no suggestion of a sexual offense relating to two men of the same sex."

The Pontifical Biblical Commission is a body founded by the Roman Curia, which is the executive branch of the Holy See and headed by the Pope, to give interpretation of Scripture. Pope Paul VI abolished the commission's clergy authority in 1971, and has been acting as an advisory body ever since.

Following the publication of the study, voices of opposition to the interpretation brought by the committee have emerged and some have described it as "obviously ridiculous". One theologian told Life News News: "Thank God these things are not of authority."