Surprising statements of Pope Francis, on the plane back to the Vatican, after his recent trip to Brazil.
Answering a journalist's question about a gay lobby within the Vatican, he said: "They say they exist. If someone is gay, who searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?". An he added: "The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this (orientation) but that they must be integrated into society".
"The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem", he also said.
Is something changing in the Catholic Church or is it only his opinion?
Of course, there are complaints about this by some that "this is window dressing" or that "the Pope did not go far enough". Others are complaining that the Pope opposed same-sex marriage in Argentina. But this is not the point. Pope's lead from example, and what Pope Francis just did is an entire shift towards perception over at the Vatican. Expect the curia and other "spokesman" to try to erase this over at the Vatican starting right now. But even then, if the Pope can get some senior administrators to "back off" on an ant--gay crusade its a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope is not going to endorse same-sex marriage and sex outside of marriage for anyone, or woman priests for that matter, at least right now. His curia would be in revolt if he did. But this is a good first step.
I have a gay friend who is a now a Jesuit professor over at the American College in Rome - from a Jesuit University in the United States. He is very underground of course. My guess is he is welcoming this -- if he is not going to be "hunted out" for being a celibate gay person, his entire life will change. This is a good thing.
By Markus Strangl:
ReplyDeleteSeems like he's taking the catholic church on the modernized course that Benedict had promised..
By Norman Swenson:
ReplyDeleteFinally. A Pope who realizes he is not God.
By Giuseppe Maria Carola:
ReplyDeleteNo guys, the statement is not complete. He said: "if a gay doesn't have sex and follows the christian word and behaves correctly following it, who am I to judge a gay? Many people are lost like that and need guidance, sticking to the christian faith" (free translation from the Italian). Now you tell me if it's a modernized course or just the same old story...