Conservative Roman Catholics say a new report from a panel assisting Pope Francis is a “betrayal”.  The report recommends that Catholic clergy show more compassion and respect for same-sex couples, and acknowledges that they have “gifts and talents to offer the Christian community”.

The report, issued half-way through the Church Synod in Rome, used nonjudgmental language in discussing everything from couples cohabitating to divorce.

But the conservative Catholic group Voice of the Family didn’t appreciate the attempt to replace bigotry and discrimination with basic decency.

“Why not give Communion to polygamists if we give it to divorced and remarried?” the group said in a statement rife with hyperbole and conjecture about things that aren’t even in the Vatican report.

This doesn’t change Catholic teaching, and the report reaffirms the church’s long-held opposition to same-sex marriage.  But some see extending humanity to a long-demonized minority as nothing short of revolutionary.

“This is something that even a few years ago would have been unthinkable, from even the most open-minded of prelates – that is, a statement of outright praise for the contribution of gays and lesbians, with no caveat and no reflexive mention of sin,” wrote Rev. James. Martin in the Jesuit magazine “America”.  “That any church document would praise same-sex ‘partners’ in any way (and even use the word ‘partners’) is astonishing.”