Pope says he won't judge gay priests

[cali]

ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT (AP) - Pope 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.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130729_ap_7b465b60945f40deb3a68b3de742f84a.html#rAGLFlqcJiwhqxa3.99

[Katashi_itto]

1. Damn..I figured he was a different cut. He's laying the groundwork.

Playing the long game. I hope he stays alive. Not moving into the Vatican was a wise move along with surrounding himself with fellow Jesuits.

Bet Opus Dei is trying hard to get close to him.

[mucifer]

2. He did say homosexuality is a sin.

In the article:

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.

Still, I think politically his statements will be very helpful. Especially in countries where there is a lot of violence against LGBT and a large Catholic population.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Sounds like a call to beat confessions out of those sinners to me. He is calling us names.

Saying we must beg forgiveness for sins. Religious people world wide practice forced confessions, they rape lesbians to 'cleanse' them of sin, throw acid into the faces of gay people, cut us into bits and set us on fire while singing 'Jah Love'. Francis should speak of that, instead he flames those fires.

[brooklynite]

3. Of course he won't...

...he has people for that.

[pokerfan]

4. No one is judging priests for their sexual orientation

They are being judged (or should be judged) for child abuse.

[jberryhill]

5. Given that all priests are supposed to be celibate...

...then "orientation" isn't much of an issue.

[morningfog]

6. "Orientation" is not limited to who you have sex with.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. According to Fancis if we actually have sex this is a terrible thing, so the other poster has a

good point. People are pretending this is a new or inclusive thing Popeman said but it is not. Francis is saying 'orientation' is limited to NOT having sex EVER, at all.

[cali]

11. Actually, it is a departure.

He didn't really say anything about not having sex ever. He says this:

“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?”

Yes, it's not enough, but it actually is a departure. More of a departure than his comments on women in the priesthood.

[bklyncowgirl]

17. The sin in this case is if gay priests, who are sworn to celibacy have sex.

If you're a Catholic priest who has sin with anyone--the sin is your breaking your oath of celibacy. I don't believe he was talking about the lay population. I'd be really interested to hear what he has to say on that.

I also notice that he differentiated between who have sex with grown men--a sin and priests who pray on children--a crime.

I'm no longer a Catholic, and have no intention to return to the church unless they decide that using birth control is not a sin, start handing over pedophile priests and the bishops who protect them to law enforcement and concentrate their efforts on social welfare and the environment and not on returning us to some patriarchal past but I applaud this Pope's steps, however small, to, hopefully, take the church in a less judgmental direction.

[jberryhill]

9. The point is...

...what the Catholic church proscribes is conduct.

If you have two men, one gay, one straight, and both celibate, then there is no difference in their sexual conduct.

As long as neither of them are a woman, then everything's fine, and this is not some "new" position.

--------
Vatican Won't Ban Gay Priests
Published October 07, 2005
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – An upcoming church document does not decree a sweeping ban on gays in seminaries, allowing those who have lived chastely for at least three years to become priests, a senior Vatican official said Friday.

------

So, what's the "news" here, other than the ongoing notion that repeating longheld Roman Catholic positions to a new audience is supposed to be some kind of exciting development?

[morningfog]

15. I understand your point now.

Sorry I missed it earlier.

[jberryhill]

16. Most of the time, even I don't understand my point

[Bluenorthwest]

7. cali this is no differnt from what all the religious bigots say 'hate the sin, love the sinner'

he says it is a sin for gay people to have sex. Got to be celibate. I am so sick of seeing this hate monger pushed here in GD.

[theHandpuppet]

13. You think it's bad on GD

Try LBN... an average of nearly a dozen Pope threads a month. All rah-rah's for His Holiness, of course. Some folks never heard of the religion forum where they can hold their daily revivals.

[Beacool]

12. I disagree with some of the other posters.

It is progress, Benedict had said that gay men should avoid the priesthood. Since celibacy is supposed to be part of being a priest, Francis is saying that he is not standing in judgment of gay priests. The whole point is that neither gay nor straight priests are supposed to be having sex.

[snooper2]

14. So, he's not going to burn them at the stake, but it's still a sin

and he'll try to pray it away a little LOL...


Kind of like, I'm not racist, I just don't like to sit by black folks

[Apophis]

18. I've got a feeling a John Paul I "incident" is in his near future.