The White House will host a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis next week, but it has invited several LGBT activist allies who are working to target Catholic beliefs and to influence the Synod on the Family.

On Sept. 23, the White House will host hundreds of people on the South Lawn for a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis’ first visit to the U.S. as Roman Pontiff. The Pope and President Barack Obama will then have a private meeting.

The White House directly invited some guests to the ceremony, including former Episcopal Bishop V.  Gene Robinson. His election as the first openly gay Episcopalian bishop helped split the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

The White House also invited the LGBT activist group GLAAD to the reception. GLAAD’s Sept. 16 announcement of the invitation asked its allies to “Help send a message to Pope Francis” by taking part in an advocacy campaign.

GLAAD has released a media guide for the papal visit that encourages journalists to consult dissenting Catholic groups. It also portrays negatively several Catholic bishops and Catholic commentators and researchers who are opposed to LGBT political aims. Its guide seeks sympathetic press attention for employees of Catholic institutions fired for violating Catholic moral standards.

The media guide criticized Catholic groups such as Courage, which supports people with same-sex attraction to live chastely. The GLAAD guide contended that Catholic teaching can be “extremely harmful” to young people who identify as LGBT.

Read the article “The White House Invites LGBT Lobbying Group to Papal Ceremony during Pope’s U.S. Visit” on ewtnnews.com.