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To: Mrs. Don-o

Yes, you are wrong. He makes no mention of repentance. In fact, he says:

“In Buenos Aires I used to receive letters from homosexual persons who are ‘socially wounded’ because they tell me that they feel like the church has always condemned them. But the church does not want to do this. During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge. By saying this, I said what the catechism says. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.”

You can’t “interfere” with someone else’s spiritual life? The church doesn’t want to confront their sin, but do what?

OF COURSE homosexuals feel like the church has condemned them - it has, and it must. Jesus confronted sin, and did so very harshly when the sinner was not repentant. If we cannot confront a world that loves sin and tolerates it and accepts it, then what use are we? The salt is no longer salty!

Yes, cockroaches will run from the light - as did many who rejected Jesus. See John 6. See what Jesus said to the Pharisees. See what John the Baptist said to Herod. Many will hate us if we hold true to God. And homosexuals are leading Satan’s charge against the church. They want all Christians silenced, intimidated, or cast out. Take a look at the recent San Antonio law requiring the city to fire anyone who has said something against homosexuality.

We - anyone who claims to follow Christ, Baptist or Catholic - need to stand against the ruler of this world and condemn sin. But your Pope has gone wobbly. He is seeking the praise and adulation of the mainstream press, and getting it. He is the John McCain of Popes, turning on his own to curry favor with the enemy.

Homosexuality and abortion are not minor matters. They are a terrible evil running rampant over the western world. God will judge us, and the Pope cannot stop God’s judgment by saying we cannot interfere with someone else’s spirituality.

Ask yourself this - why is it that almost daily you find yourself trying to explain why this Pope is getting great press from those who hate God? Whose side is he on? Is he too stupid to know he’s being used, or is he on their side?

I’ll be honest with you - this is the first Pope in my lifetime that I think may be demon-possessed. Francis is NOT on God’s side, and the adulation he is getting from evil-doers is evidence of it.


30 posted on 09/19/2013 8:39:14 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
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To: Mr Rogers
I’ll be honest with you - this is the first Pope in my lifetime that I think may be demon-possessed. Francis is NOT on God’s side, and the adulation he is getting from evil-doers is evidence of it.

You might want to temper those more extreme comments a bit. I am guilty of that uncharitable manner of speech about the pope also and it is at my own peril.

Found this in the Fisheaters thread, an excerpt by "IVSTINIVS":

The internet has given everyone an opinion, and a platform to voice it. I look at what I say about the Holy Father publicly or out among people using Pascal's Wager as a template:

If I criticize the Pope's actions and the Pope is wrong, then I gain nothing because it is not necessary to my state in life to do so, yet risk my soul with the use of uncharitable speech and, in the end, any good that comes from what I say is negligible anyway. There is likely a better way to inspire virtue.

If I criticize the Pope's actions and the Pope is right, then that in itself is a slippery slope to hell.

If I don't criticize the Pope's actions and the Pope is wrong, I lose nothing because it is not necessary to my state in life to do so.

If I don't criticize the Pope's actions and the Pope is right, then all fine with the world.

Your soul would appear to be safer if you respond to people's questions and concerns about the Pope, particular indivudal Bishops, and clergy, in the affirmative, rather than the negative


33 posted on 09/19/2013 9:04:40 PM PDT by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: Mr Rogers
I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge. By saying this, I said what the catechism says.
The pope here says that he is merely repeating what the Catechism says, and what Jesus said about judging. Yes, we can judge homosexual acts as intrinsically evil. But we can't judge the eternal fate of individual sinners, regardless of their sins.

Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.

This is ambiguous. My guess is that it's a translation issue. My interpretation is this. The Church has the right to tell us right from wrong. But God has given us free will. We cannot force consciences.

35 posted on 09/19/2013 9:07:58 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: Mr Rogers; Mrs. Don-o; Tax-chick; NYer
Early in the interview the Pope tells the interviewer that he (the pope)preferred to think rather than provide answers on the spot. The author goes on to explain that the pope interrupted what he was saying in response to a question several times,in order to add something to an earlier response. The author also goes on to describe talking with Pope Frances as “kind of a volcanic flow of ideas that are bound up with each other”. I think it is very important to understand that when commenting on the context of each comment in light of the entire article.

With that in mind,several pages after the remarks that you found disturbing he gets back on subject and the pope says:”We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion,gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This not possible. I have not spoken much about these things and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues,we have to talk about them in context. The teaching of the church,for that matter,is clear and I am a son of the church,but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all of the time”.

I think he is telling his church that we need to be more Christlike if we are to draw people to Christ. He is giving us a tool to evangelize by acting more Christlike ourselves.I think it was St. Frances of Assisi that said “ago out and bring people to Christ,use words if you have to”. I for one needed to be reminded of that as I believe many others also need reminders every now and then.

39 posted on 09/19/2013 9:19:30 PM PDT by saradippity
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