When Pope Francis was asked what he thought about gay priests, he replied-
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”So- Who am I to judge.
Well, in context, that is NOT what the Pope said. He was responding to the alleged "gay lobby" at the Vatican, to which he said:
There is so much being written about the gay lobby. I haven’t met anyone in the Vatican yet who has “gay” written on their identity cards. There is a distinction between being gay, being this way inclined and lobbying. Lobbies are not good. If a gay person is in eager search of God, who am I to judge them? The Catholic Church teaches that gay people should not be discriminated against; they should be made to feel welcome. Being gay is not the problem, lobbying is the problem and this goes for any type of lobby, business lobbies, political lobbies and Masonic lobbies.
So, that is a bit different than speaking about gay priests - he's only speaking about gay people and that we should not discriminate against them, make them feel welcome. If a "gay person" is seeking the Lord, he/she is not actively participating in homosexuality. The Church does not condemn people for their tendencies - in fact, the Church does not condemn people at all! The Church condemns SIN. If someone actively and knowingly participates in the SIN, then they condemn themselves.
Others report that there has been a change in the Church's view toward homosexuality, and that is simply not true! Pope Francis said we must not discriminate against homosexuals, he did not say we must or that we even could accept the ACT of homosexuality. There is a difference between the homosexual and homosexuality; one is a person, the other is a sin. The Church has not and will not accept the sin, but we welcome sinners of ALL kinds to come to repentance.
A participant on CDF offered these thoughts:
I would say that you had a pretty good instinct if you knew something was wrong with the article you read. Both the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, as well as many broadcast media outlets, frequently misquote the pope or take his words out of the context in which it was said. Once he is misquoted, the factual errors just get repeated because they take the media giants' word for it and don't research them at all.
Fr. Jonathan Morris, reports frequently for Fox News. Here is a good bit of his article on the subject:
[quote] But, unfortunately, if you were reading the headlines from some media outlets, you would have learned just one thing. As the Huffington Post put it: "Breakthrough: Pope OK with Gays."
This is the worst coverage of a religious story I have seen to date.
Let's begin with the fact that the pope has always been "OK" with homosexuals. In fact, by the demands of his own religion he is required to be much more than just "OK." The Christian faith teaches that every person is endowed by God with an inviolable dignity and therefore deserves our unconditional respect and love.
A section of an Associated Press report also got the story very wrong. Summarizing the pope's comments on homosexuals in the priesthood, the AP reported: "Francis was much more conciliatory [than Pope Benedict], saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten."
Pope Francis didn't say that, and the report is wrong on so many levels.
First of all, it suggests that being gay itself, is a sin. What Pope Francis really said, in response to a reporter's question about homosexual priests who are living a celibate life was this: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"
Pope Francis simply and compassionately reiterated Biblical teaching. The Bible and the Catholic Church have never taught that it is a "sin" to be homosexual. They teach it is a sin to have homosexual sex because it goes against the laws of God's nature, specifically his plan for human sexuality.
When Pope Francis says "who am I to judge" he is saying—and I think we need to hear more of this from religious leaders—that active homosexuals deserve the same kindness, love, and mercy that all of us sinners would hope to receive from God and from others.
We don't make judgments about anyone's personal worth—God has already done that when he created us out of love.
I would hope next time Pope Francis offers to meet with the press, they would take to heart his message about fearless service and report to their readers what he actually said, rather than what they wish they had heard. [unquote]
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/
[Bold and large type added for emphasis]
Pope Francis was taken out of context yet again. He said that gay people deserved the same kindness, love, and mercy as any other sinner would hope to receive from God and us, Christians. He didn't change Church teaching on the subject, nor did he say it was okay to engage in the homosexual lifestyle. The media at large is almost 100% anti-Catholic and loves to put "spin" on just about anything the pope says or does. They are right nearly 0% of the time when reporting on anything having to do with the Catholic Church, especially on Catholic teaching.
Another pretty good article is here: http://www.catholicvote.org/
and here [Jimmy Akin is pretty straight forward]: http://www.ncregister.com/
Here's a Church Document on the "Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons" from 1986 if you would like to read it: http://www.vatican.va/roman_
A participant on CDF offered these thoughts:
I would say that you had a pretty good instinct if you knew something was wrong with the article you read. Both the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, as well as many broadcast media outlets, frequently misquote the pope or take his words out of the context in which it was said. Once he is misquoted, the factual errors just get repeated because they take the media giants' word for it and don't research them at all.
Fr. Jonathan Morris, reports frequently for Fox News. Here is a good bit of his article on the subject:
[quote] But, unfortunately, if you were reading the headlines from some media outlets, you would have learned just one thing. As the Huffington Post put it: "Breakthrough: Pope OK with Gays."
This is the worst coverage of a religious story I have seen to date.
Let's begin with the fact that the pope has always been "OK" with homosexuals. In fact, by the demands of his own religion he is required to be much more than just "OK." The Christian faith teaches that every person is endowed by God with an inviolable dignity and therefore deserves our unconditional respect and love.
A section of an Associated Press report also got the story very wrong. Summarizing the pope's comments on homosexuals in the priesthood, the AP reported: "Francis was much more conciliatory [than Pope Benedict], saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten."
Pope Francis didn't say that, and the report is wrong on so many levels.
First of all, it suggests that being gay itself, is a sin. What Pope Francis really said, in response to a reporter's question about homosexual priests who are living a celibate life was this: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"
Pope Francis simply and compassionately reiterated Biblical teaching. The Bible and the Catholic Church have never taught that it is a "sin" to be homosexual. They teach it is a sin to have homosexual sex because it goes against the laws of God's nature, specifically his plan for human sexuality.
When Pope Francis says "who am I to judge" he is saying—and I think we need to hear more of this from religious leaders—that active homosexuals deserve the same kindness, love, and mercy that all of us sinners would hope to receive from God and from others.
We don't make judgments about anyone's personal worth—God has already done that when he created us out of love.
I would hope next time Pope Francis offers to meet with the press, they would take to heart his message about fearless service and report to their readers what he actually said, rather than what they wish they had heard. [unquote]
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/
[Bold and large type added for emphasis]
Pope Francis was taken out of context yet again. He said that gay people deserved the same kindness, love, and mercy as any other sinner would hope to receive from God and us, Christians. He didn't change Church teaching on the subject, nor did he say it was okay to engage in the homosexual lifestyle. The media at large is almost 100% anti-Catholic and loves to put "spin" on just about anything the pope says or does. They are right nearly 0% of the time when reporting on anything having to do with the Catholic Church, especially on Catholic teaching.
Another pretty good article is here: http://www.catholicvote.org/
and here [Jimmy Akin is pretty straight forward]: http://www.ncregister.com/
Here's a Church Document on the "Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons" from 1986 if you would like to read it: http://www.vatican.va/roman_
