A prince of the Roman Catholic Church, who is also a strategic Jesuit ally of the pope, has said that the church is wrong in its position that homosexuality is sinful.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg in a recent interview with KDA, a German Catholic news agency, said the church is “no longer correct” in its teachings about homosexuality.

He said: “The Church’s positions on homosexual relationships as sinful are wrong.

“I believe that the sociological and scientific foundation of this doctrine is no longer correct. It is time for a fundamental revision of Church teaching, and the way in which Pope Francis has spoken of homosexuality could lead to a change in doctrine.”

He added: “In our archdiocese, in Luxembourg, no one is fired for being homosexual, or divorced and remarried. I can’t toss them out – they would become unemployed, and how can such a thing be Christian? As for homosexual priests, there are many of these, and it would be good if they could talk about this with their bishop without his condemning them.”

Cardinal Hollerich’s statement got attention because of his position in the church. He leads the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, and is also the pope’s choice for “relator general” for the October 2023 global Synod of Bishops, where he will help shape its work to weigh the church’s future.

Reacting to Hollerich’s statement, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, an outspoken conservative, tweeted: “This Cardinal seems to be claiming a private revelation which is contrary to scripture & the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Any private revelation that contradicts public revelation must be condemned.”