A Vatican department has apologised for “causing pain to the entire LGBTQ community” by removing from its website a link to resource material from a Catholic gay rights advocacy group. The website of the Synod of Bishops, which is organising a two-year global consultative process ahead of a major meeting in Rome in 2023, issued the apology and restored the link over the weekend after criticism on social media. The link was to a webinar from New Ways Ministry, a U.S.-based group which ministers to LGBTQ Catholics who feel excluded or marginalized by the Church. The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuals should be treated with respect and that while homosexual tendencies are not sinful, homosexual actions are. The about face on the website was the latest occasion the Vatican has sent mixed signals about the role Catholic gays can have in the Church. Thierry Bonaventura, communications manager for the synod, took personal responsibility for removing the links, saying on the synod’s website that it was due to “internal procedural reasons.” He did not elaborate.