Posted on 07/29/2013 7:07:04 AM PDT by IbJensen
Pope Francis on Monday said “who am I to judge?” gay people as he discussed one of the most divisive issues affecting the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis, who gave a press conference on his flight back from Brazil, said he had stayed away from the gay marriage debate on his trip because he wanted to stay positive.
“I have yet to find anyone who has a business card that says he is gay,” the pontiff said at a press conference in which he addressed the reports of a "gay lobby" within the Vatican.
“They say they exist. If someone is gay, who searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” 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."
Francis added that he thought lobbies of any kind -- including political ones -- were bad.
"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 said.
The press conference, which lasted for an hour and 20 minutes, was held during the flight back from his week-long trip to Brazil.
The official position of the Catholic Church on the issue is that while homosexual desires or attractions are not in themselves sinful, the physical acts are.
All priests take a vow of celibacy when they become members of the clergy.
The pontiff went to Brazil on his first visit overseas since he was elected in March.
The Pope said he had stayed away from the issue of gay marriage and also abortion on his week-long trip to Brazil because he wanted to stay positive.
Francis discussed a range of issues during the press conference, admitting that the church had not done enough to develop “the theology of women in the church.”
He said that the church had spoken on the issue of women priests and expressed itself clearly on the issue of abortion, but he added that important female biblical figures had been overlooked.
"Mary is more important than the apostles," he said. "One must think about women in the church. We have not done enough theology on this."
History's first Latin American pope said he was "pretty tired" but with a happy heart after his first overseas trip.
He said he was amazed at the number of people who turned out to see him in Brazil, especially the three million who jammed Copacabana Beach for Sunday's Mass.
He added that he was unconcerned by the tumultuous start to the trip that included the discovery of a bomb at a shrine he visited and the mob scene that took place when his driver inadvertently made wrong turn.
"There's always the danger of a crazy person, but there is also the Lord," he said. "This being close is good for everyone."
Is Pope Francis "Peter the Roman" ?
Just one of the many errors the Roman Catholic Church lives in.
I’ll tell you who you are, Pope Francis.
You are a Pope that I do not care for at all.
I’ll leave it at that.
he’s new. he must not have read the job description yet.
Despising the Mother of Jesus is an error of the protestant sects
Another rush to judgement, a la anti-Zimmerman style, perfectly orchestrated by the media for the consumption by the mouth breathers, with the facts of the faith shuttered.
Gird your loins.
After the firestorm this spun comment causes he will definitely shut up about it
There is a problem because those statements ignore the very next verse in Matthew.
Matthew 7:1-5 is do not judge.
6“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
You cannot be gay on the inside, be a murderer on the inside, be an adulterer, a liar, a idol worshiper...whatever on the inside and think it’s okay by God. Jesus was none of these things and we are to be like Him in action and in heart.
Matthew 11
28“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The full quote is even more disturbing because the Pope knows that is not the issue. All Christians should agree with that statement. The Culture is being wagged by a tiny group of homosexual radicals who want their lifestyle approved & exulted. They have infiltrated all the major institutions of Govt., Education, Entertainment, and the Church. To disagree is to HATE - that is intolerable to me, and I want our leaders to speak out against that. If the Pope can’t see that or won’t see that, well...who is he really representing?
The headline is deceptive. PF said that if the ga person was living a good Christian life and seeking God, the ‘who am I to judge him?”
So, in no way did PF endorse homosexual behavior; he merely said that to have a homosexual attraction is not in itself a sin. The behavior is the factor in whether the person is committing sinful acts.
I do wish people would get all the facts correct before judging the person.
Alas they won’t
Logic is out of fashion and, with it, reason
Unfortunately, you are 1000% correct.
Looks like Liberation Theology is making a comeback after all, and the work of JPII and Benedict will be for naught.
Oh, I don't despise her. And, I am not in a "protestant sect". Its that if one would read the Bible (vs. listening to the RC traditions) one would find she was another sinner like the rest of us. She happen to be chosen to bear the physical body of Jesus, but needed a Savior just like I do. The veneration of her is a cult-like sickness borne of a man-centered worship...not reverence to the One who is worthy.
He didn't say "who am I to judge?" with regard to homosexual behavior. He said, "If a person is gay and seeks the Savior with good intent, who am I to judge him?"
He has qualified his nonjudgmentalism to the person who is earnestly seeking Christ, not to any gay person regardless of their mindset; nor does he exempt the behavior, which he goes on to say that the Catechism has clearly explained.
So let me see if I have this straight.
In your church, if you have somebody who had a sinful past and wants to repent of that, you tell them that their sin is unforgivable and that they are unwelcome, if that sin they repent of is homosexuality.
Do I have that correct?
Wrong
On all accounts
If you care to opine on the Church would you do it after gaining a little information?
Those who created the catechism were and are biblical scholars so if people would like to despise the church on the grounds that it is not biblically based they are simply ignorant
So that’s the end of my involvement with this conversation
"omosessuale"
“Reading his actual words, there is no major controversy here.”
Doesn’t matter, Pope said it. Wrong from the start, no matter what.
The harlot who rides the beast is a trojan horse, the pagan high priest of the beast says the word ‘gay’, ‘gay marriage’ will be coming soon to the Babylonian mystery cult goddess worshipping trojan church-whore cult religion of men non-bible believing gay-sayers.
Obviously. Never mind that of those wacked-out Christian groups that have accepted ‘gay marriage’ so far have ALL accepted female clergy/pastors, divorce and remarriage, and birth control within marriage first. Everyone of them as far as I can tell.
So the cult-whore pagan beast-riding edifice of men better get busy, the acceptance of divorce and remarriage seems like a pretty good first general step to get with the gay program. Otherwise they will be marrying gays but not recognizing their subsequent divorces and remarriages.
Sure.
FReegards
True. I would have wished he’d have said Il lobby omosessuale rather than il lobby gay
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