U.S. Catholics debate: How liberal is the pope?

As Pope Francis arrives for his first trip to the United States today, LGBT advocates and conservative Catholics disagree about whether the pope is changing course on homosexuality.

The six-day visit, with stops in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia, includes an arrival ceremony at the White House, a speech to Congress, an address to the UN General Assembly, and participation in the triennial World Meeting of Families, the largest gathering of Catholic families worldwide.

While conservative Catholics in the U.S. maintain the pope affirms traditional church teaching on homosexuality, a number of Catholic gay advocacy groups claim the pope is paving a new path and hope this visit will be a step toward the church accepting openly gay and lesbian Catholics.

Some of those groups made headway with the White House. President Barack Obama is receiving criticism from the Vatican for extending invitations to the pope’s arrival ceremony Wednesday morning to several controversial figures, including transgender activists, an openly gay Episcopal bishop, and a Catholic nun who leads a protest group. Vatican officials worry any pictures of the pope with those figures could be seen as an endorsement of their activities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Among the invitees is Aaron Ledesma, a gay man who says he returned to the Catholic Church because of the pope’s words of “love, compassion and acceptance.” Ledesma specifically points to a June 2013 quote by Francis just months after he was elected successor to Pope Benedict XVI: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”

More conservative Catholics argue any shift in the pope’s language is merely a shift in tone— emphasizing grace and mercy toward those with same-sex attraction while holding firm to church doctrine that they should remain chaste.

That teaching won’t change “because human beings don’t change,” says Father Philip Bochanski, associate director of Courage, an international organization that provides support to Catholic men and women with same-sex attraction who have made a decision to live a chaste life. He says Catholic teaching on sexual morality—that sex is only between a man and a woman in a permanent, faithful marriage relationship—is fundamental to the church and “rooted in what it means to be a human being and what it means to be a man or woman.”

Bochanski says the church is always learning how to be more welcoming and pastoral, but “part of acting with love toward a fellow Christian is saying, ‘This is what faith tells us will make you happy, and this is what faith tells us will fulfill you.’”

Courage will have an exhibit at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this week. Conference organizers denied exhibit space to groups supporting gay marriage, but said they welcome gay and lesbian individuals to attend the conference.

“We don’t want to provide a platform at the meeting for people to lobby for positions contrary to the life of our church,” Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said.

Critics of the decision argue Chaput and other conference leaders are putting their heads in the sand.

“They see LGBT issues as a problem to contain rather than to explore,” said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, an advocacy group supporting LGBT Catholics.

Despite clear statements, confusion remains. Nearly four in 10 U.S. Catholics believe the pope supports allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, according to an August survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Catholics have started a petition calling on Francis to clarify the church’s moral teaching on marriage and sexuality at the Synod of Bishops in Rome next month. As of last week, more than 625,000 Catholics from 160 countries, including eight cardinals and 170 bishops, have signed the petition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.