Pope Francis, the head of the Church of England and a senior figure in the Presbyterian Church, jointly condemned the criminalization of homosexuality and said their churches should accept homosexuals.

Three Christian leaders spoke about the rights of LGBTI+ people during an unprecedented joint aerial press conference on Sunday, returning home from South Sudan, where they took part in a three-day ecumenical pilgrimage to try to advance the peace process in the newly created country.

They were asked about Francis’ recent comments to the Associated Press in which he said laws criminalizing homosexuals were “unfair” and that “being gay is not a crime.”

South Sudan is one of 67 countries that criminalize homosexuality, 11 of which carry the death penalty. LGBTI+ rights advocates say that even when such laws are not enforced, they create an environment of harassment, discrimination and violence.

“If (Pope Francis) comes here and tells us that same-sex marriage, homosexuality, is legal, we will say no,” South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makwe Luet said after the Pope’s AP interview and ahead of his visit.

On Sunday, Francis referred to his Jan. 24 AP comments and reiterated that such laws are “unfair.” He also echoed earlier comments that parents should never kick their gay children out of the house.

“Condemning someone for being gay is a sin,” he said. “The criminalization of people with homosexual inclinations is an injustice. Homosexual people are children of God. God loves them. God bless them,” he added.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recalled that LGBTQI+ rights are high on the Church of England agenda and said he would quote the Pope himself when the issue is discussed at the upcoming general meeting of the church.

“I wish I could speak as eloquently and clearly as the Pope. I fully agree with every word he says,” Welby said.

Recently, the Church of England decided to allow the blessing of civil same-sex marriages, adding, however, that same-sex couples cannot marry in its churches. The Vatican bans both same-sex marriages and blessings on same-sex unions.

Welby told reporters that the issue of criminalization had been discussed at two previous conferences of the wider Church of England, which includes churches in Africa and the Middle East, where such anti-gay laws are more common and often supported by conservative bishops.

The broader Lambeth Conference, as the Church of England bishops’ conference is called, twice opposed criminalization, “but it didn’t really change a lot of people’s minds,” Welby said.

The Rev. Ian Greenshields, a Church of Scotland Presbyterian moderator who also took part in the pilgrimage and press conference, made the following observation: “Nowhere in the four gospels does it say that Jesus rejected anyone,” he said. “Nowhere in the four gospels is there anything other than an expression of Jesus’ love for everyone he meets. And as Christians, this is the only expression we can give to any person under any circumstances.”

The Church of Scotland allows same-sex marriages. Catholic teaching, however, holds that homosexuals should be treated with dignity and respect, but that homosexual acts are “abnormal in nature”.

Source: Associated Press.