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Pope on gays : "Who am I to judge?"

Started by garbon, July 29, 2013, 08:09:20 AM

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garbon

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-says-wont-judge-gay-priests-111041448.html

QuotePope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip.

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked.

His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten.

Francis' remarks came Monday during a plane journey back to the Vatican from his first foreign trip in Brazil.

He was funny and candid during his first news conference that lasted almost an hour and a half. He didn't dodge a single question, even thanking the journalist who raised allegations reported by an Italian newsmagazine that one of his trusted monsignors was involved in a scandalous gay tryst.

Francis said he investigated and found nothing to back up the allegations.

Francis was asked about Italian media reports suggesting that a group within the church tried to blackmail fellow church officials with evidence of their homosexual activities. Italian media reported this year that the allegations contributed to Benedict's decision to resign.

Stressing that Catholic social teaching that calls for homosexuals to be treated with dignity and not marginalized, Francis said it was something else entirely to conspire to use private information for blackmail or to exert pressure.

Francis was responding to reports that a trusted aide was involved in an alleged gay tryst a decade ago. He said he investigated the allegations according to canon law and found nothing to back them up. But he took journalists to task for reporting on the matter, saying the allegations concerned matters of sin, not crimes like sexually abusing children.

And when someone sins and confesses, he said, God not only forgives but forgets.

"We don't have the right to not forget," he said.

The directness of his comments suggested that he wanted to put the matter of the monsignor behind him as he sets about overhauling the Vatican bank and reforming the Holy See bureaucracy.

...


So do we reckon that Marti has taken about going to mass again?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Tamas

Well, you must give up some ground if you want to keep protecting the pedophiles.

HVC

Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

CountDeMoney

QuoteStressing that Catholic social teaching that calls for homosexuals to be treated with dignity and not marginalized, Francis said it was something else entirely to conspire to use private information for blackmail or to exert pressure.

This guy would never cut it as Director, FBI.

garbon

Quote from: Tamas on July 29, 2013, 08:24:43 AM
Well, you must give up some ground if you want to keep protecting the pedophiles.

QuoteBut he took journalists to task for reporting on the matter, saying the allegations concerned matters of sin, not crimes like sexually abusing children.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Tamas

Anyways, is this matter much? When it comes to debates like gay marriage, the anti-gay crowd always says shit like "I have no problem with them, just don't do it in public" etc.
So it's not like this will convince a single homophob to be accepting.

garbon

Quote from: Tamas on July 29, 2013, 08:36:54 AM
Anyways, is this matter much? When it comes to debates like gay marriage, the anti-gay crowd always says shit like "I have no problem with them, just don't do it in public" etc.
So it's not like this will convince a single homophob to be accepting.

In itself, probably not. That said still not what I expected to hear out of the pope. I mean I've been wondering who he was to judge anything for a long time. :D
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Lettow77

 A powerful answer to "Who am I to judge?" is "Quite literally, the pope, the vicar of Christ, the figurehead of the most prominent Christian organization in the world", but I like this guy anyway.

When is his pronouncement on the Malvinas?
It can't be helped...We'll have to use 'that'

derspiess

"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Razgovory

Quote from: Tamas on July 29, 2013, 08:36:54 AM
Anyways, is this matter much? When it comes to debates like gay marriage, the anti-gay crowd always says shit like "I have no problem with them, just don't do it in public" etc.
So it's not like this will convince a single homophob to be accepting.

You mean, like you with Muslims?
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Grallon

I wonder if the Church will ever revisit its whole stance on sexuality...  Perhaps not with all the 3rd worlders who are now the majority of its adherents....  Still this new Pope is refreshing.



G.



"Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

~Jean-François Revel

The Minsky Moment

I never understood the Benedict position.  Priests are forbidden to engage in any kind of sex, so what difference could their orientation make?
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Valmy

Quote from: Tamas on July 29, 2013, 08:36:54 AM
Anyways, is this matter much? When it comes to debates like gay marriage, the anti-gay crowd always says shit like "I have no problem with them, just don't do it in public" etc.

Dang you have really nice anti-gay types out there if that is the extent of the shit they say.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall