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."
I don’t see the word “Protestant” in the Bible either. Keep sawing away at the trunk and eventually your head will topple right off with it.
Neither did his predecessors.
He needs to do more praying to his Maker for guidance.
I have no doubt he will.
It’s not that I think he cares so much about his own self’ it’s the burden on the apologists, though it is an exercise
Don’t forget the Koran:
“if a man comes upon a man, then they are both adulterers,” “If a woman comes upon a woman, they are both Adulteresses,” “When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes,” and “Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to.”
Abu Dawud (4448) - “If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.” (Note the implicit approval of sodomizing one’s wife).
Just using the newspeak term ‘gay’ instead of homosexual was enough.
This is sad. The speech was in Italian which has a perfectly good word for homosexual. As a one off, he might have been caught off guard. But we shall see.
I find your comment on the Mother of God to be blasphemous and insulting to practicing Catholics.
She is and was not like any other woman in that God selected her, as well as her parents, long before she was born. She was the Immaculate Conception and the term did not refer to the conception of Jesus Christ. The immaculate nature of His conception, of course, went without comment.
To call the veneration of Mary a ‘cult-like sickness’ speaks volumes about whatever form of evil forces you to degrade the Roman Catholic Church.
Please retract your statement certainly not meant for me or cite where I made any claim to which you are referring.
I should know better than to try to defend the Blessed Mother or the Church on this anti-Catholic forum
Hey if you guys really are right about this, then take a Jesus (and Mary as applicable) chill pill. Such criticism would not change who Mary is.
Perhaps he was speaking about the jars.
Many belong to the Masonic Order in the same way one joins the Elks or the Moose. There is no understanding about the deep and even sinister goals and background of this cult.
Repenting means being forgiven and then going about the rest of your life having done penance and not revisiting the past occasion of sin.
Having received absolution from God through the confessor does not mean that there is not still some atonement due for a grievous sin.
Both your sentences are correct.
"Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.
[18] And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [19] And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."
Matthew, 16:18
I would NEVER blaspheme the Blessed Mother and have a full understanding and faith in the Immaculate Conception.
Imho, you likely received what is referred to as a “courtesy” ping. As someone who has shown an interest in the conversation, someone who made a subsequent post was letting you know about a continuation of the discussion.
Actually it was a courtesy to you that you were including in the address of my comment.
Back up and read what the first person stated to you.
I know that, Was just protecting my reputation, as the comment, back up and look at it, was addressed to me.
I do appreciate the assistance.
Long day
Well there is a fundamental disagreement here between the Roman Catholic and evangelical Christian communities. Evangelicals take the keys as the authority that congregational leaders get from faithful obedience to the Holy Spirit. Roman Catholics see it tied to ecclesiastical offices connected to their physical lineage. (Evangelicals believe in spiritual lineage to the church via its witness from founding times, to wit the bible.) As a ‘crazy’ evangelical I reveal my bias in the dispute. It’s a bit difficult, to me, to explain the spectacular success of gospel in evangelical churches as being a mere side effect of the existence of the Roman Catholic church, when its luminaries have been busy damning such evangelical churches since Luther stuck his objections up on the Wittenberg door... and trying to explain it away as mere deviltry doesn’t work very well either.
I know, I just didn’t want anyone else reading it thinking that I would blaspheme the Blessed Mother.
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