Tony Blair questions Pope's gay policy

Tony Blair has questioned the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that religious leaders must start "rethinking" the issue.

RELATED: Click here to read a December 2008 post - "Pope angers campaigners with speech seen as attack on homosexuality."

Some older Catholics had "entrenched attitudes", while most congregations were more "liberal-minded", he added.

Mr Blair, who converted to Catholicism after resigning as the United Kingdom prime minister in 2007, told the gay magazine Attitude that views had to keep "evolving".

But he added that Pope Benedict XVI also stood for "many fantastic things".

Last December the Pope angered gay and lesbian groups by arguing that blurring distinctions between males and females could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race. In a letter to bishops in 1986, when he was a cardinal, he wrote: "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."

Asked about this comment, Mr. Blair told Attitude that:

There is a huge generational difference here. And there's probably that same fear amongst religious leaders that if you concede ground on an issue like this, because attitudes and thinking evolve over time, where does that end? You'd start having to rethink many, many things.

Now, my view is that rethinking is good, so let's carry on rethinking. Actually, we need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith.

So some of these things can then result in a very broad area of issues being up for discussion. That's when I understand why religious leaders are very reluctant.

I think what is interesting is that if you went into any Catholic church, particularly a well-attended one, on any Sunday here and did a poll of the congregation, you'd be surprised at how liberal-minded people were.

"Asked if he meant that the average Catholic congregation speaks for the Catholic Church more than the Pope does, Mr. Blair replied: "Well, I'm not going to say that! On many issues, I think the leaders of the Church and the Church will be in complete agreement."

"But I think on some of these issues, if you went and asked the congregation, I think you'd find that their faith is not to be found in those types of entrenched attitudes. If you asked 'what makes you religious?' and 'what does your faith mean to you?' they would immediately go into compassion, solidarity, relieving suffering. I would be really surprised if they went to 'actually, it's to do with believing homosexuality is wrong' or 'it's to do with believing this part of the ritual or doctrine should be done in this particular way'."

The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage, teaching that, while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

During his interview, Mr Blair said homophobia in society had receded since the early 1990s and that his government's introduction of civil partnerships had given people a "sense of liberation from prejudice".

Mr Blair, who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007, usually refused to discuss his religious views while in office. He converted to Catholicism, a faith he shares with his wife Cherie, in December 2007.