[Slyfox]

Pope Francis' expression of “Who am I to judge?” also finds much criticism:

With this renunciation to judge, this 'sentence which has been abused by many media, Pope Francis did damage to the Church,' stressed another interlocutor from the Vatican with whom I met for lunch in Trastevere. 'He has, without intending it, favored the advance of the homosexual lobby which he claims to fight.'

"Who am I to judge?" was pulled out of a longer statement in which Francis said first: "After I give absolution - who am I to judge?"

Of course, he is right because after absolution it is no longer in his hands but it is in God's hands.

The media conveniently twists everything that comes out of his mouth, so how can I judge what he says when I only get part of the story?

[annalex]

That is true, but there was no clarification later.

I do think that His Holiness does not get credit for his bubbly Latino personality, when people criticize his occasional rashness or ability to provide leftwing-pleasing soundbites inside a solid larger context. But when some light-hearted remark gets distorted so systematically, and there is no correction from Rome, the distortion effectively becomes the genuine statement.

[circlecity]

"Who am I to judge?" was pulled out of a longer statement in which Francis said first: "After I give absolution - who am I to judge?"

That misses the point. The only thing we are called to Judge, either before or after absolution, is behavior, not individuals. Francis knows this. He is using a straw man argument to appeal to the world. The issue isn't a judgment of individuals its a judgment on whether various behavior is sin which effects salvation.

[ebb tide]

"Who am I to judge?" was pulled out of a longer statement in which Francis said first: "After I give absolution - who am I to judge?"

That is not what he said. He said, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"