COMMON GROUND: REPORT FOR POPE FRANCIS

In 2019, our founder and chair Jon Miller produced a report for His Holiness Pope Francis on the human and economic cost of criminalisation. The report, Common Ground, has not been made public until today. Produced with sponsorship from Deutsche Bank, it outlines how criminalisation runs counter to the teachings of the Church in areas such as education, health, livelihood and basic human dignity.

 Common Ground was written as part of a dialogue which began when Open For Business joined a Private Audience at the Vatican in 2019 – the first ever formal meeting with LGBTQ+ groups in the history of the Church. We led a high-level business delegation, alongside the International Bar Association. The purpose of this dialogue was to get the Pope to make a clear statement against the criminalisation of homosexuality.

 In 2023, Pope Francis has made a clear statement that homosexuality is not a crime. He still maintains homosexuality is a sin – but even so, this is a big moment: he’s called on the Catholic Church to work towards ending these “unjust laws”. This is important because we know that in many countries the Church is doing precisely the opposite. If the Church were to become an advocate for decriminalisation, the lives of millions would change for the better.