Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pope Francis calls woman with sex-change operation a ‘man’ and calls partners ‘married’
Life Site News ^ | October 3, 2016 | John-Henry Westen

Posted on 10/03/2016 6:23:21 AM PDT by ebb tide

Despite the Vatican’s assertion that a so-called sex-change surgery does not alter the sex of a person, Pope Francis has nevertheless chosen to refer to a woman who underwent a sex-change operation as a “man,” and also referred to her as having “married” another woman and admitted to receiving them in the Vatican last year.

As with most of his most controversial remarks, the statements came during an in-flight press scrum. On October 2, on his return flight from his papal visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Pope referred to a woman who “felt like a man” but “was physically a young woman.” After a sex-change surgery in her twenties, Pope Francis said, “he got married.”

"He wrote me a letter saying that, for him, it would be a consolation to come [see me] with his wife," the pope said. “I received them and they were very happy," Pope Francis added. Clarifying his use of pronouns, the pope said, "He that was her but is he." (translation by Josh McElwee, the NCR reporter who asked the question)

Pope Francis drew a distinction between his frequent condemnation of teaching ‘gender theory’ to young children in classrooms and welcoming, accompanying, and integrating a person who has “this tendency” and even has “a sex change.”

The meeting of the Pope with the woman with the sex-change surgery and her female partner took place in January 2015 and while it was widely reported in the media with photos, the Vatican refused comment. The woman, now called Diego Neria Lejarraga, said the pope had surprised her by calling her twice out of the blue in December 2014. Neria had written to Francis complaining of rejection from the local parish after she had undergone “gender reassignment.”

Neria said that it was Pope Francis who asked for the meeting, telling her that he would make the arrangement and call her back. Francis welcomed the two into his private suite at Domus Santa Marta to what she said was a “strictly private meeting.”

In her letter to the Pope, Neria had specifically noted that she felt excluded from the Church because of her decision, and that she was now “afraid” to receive Communion. She did not tell the media what the pope said on the matter, only mentioning that he embraced her. However, Pope Francis’ own recollection of the matter deals with Communion.

The Pope spoke of an old retired priest who welcomed Neria and a young new pastor who was harsh. "When the new pastor would see him, he would shout to him from the sidewalk: 'You will go to Hell.'" Francis said. “But when he'd meet his old priest, he would say to him, 'How long has it been since you've confessed? Come on, confess so you can take Communion.'” (translation by the US Bishops’ Catholic News Service)

In 2000, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith issued confidential guidance to bishops noting that ‘sex-change’ procedures do not alter a person’s gender. The document instructed bishops never to alter the sex listed in parish baptismal records and said Catholics who have undergone "sex-change" procedures are not eligible to marry because in the eyes of the Church they would be marrying someone of the same sex.

A literal translation of the Pope’s full remarks and the question issued by Catholic News Agency follows:

Josh McElwee, National Catholic Reporter: Thank you, Holy Father. In that same speech yesterday in Georgia, you spoke, as in so many other countries about gender theory, saying that it is a great enemy and a threat against marriage. But, I would like to ask you, what would you say to someone who has struggled with their sexuality for years and feels that there is truly a problem of biology, that his aspect doesn't correspond to what he or she feels is their sexual identity. You, as a pastor and minister, how would you accompany these people?

Pope Francis: First of all: in my life as a priest and bishop, even as Pope, I have accompanied people with homosexual tendencies, I have also met homosexual persons, accompanied them, brought them closer to the Lord, as an apostle, and I have never abandoned them. People must be accompanied as Jesus accompanies them, when a person who has this condition arrives before Jesus, Jesus surely doesn't tell them 'go away because you are homosexual.' What I said is that wickedness which today is done in the indoctrination of gender theory...a French father told me that he was speaking with his children at the table, he and his wife were Catholics, 'rosewater Catholics,' but Catholics! And he asked his 10-year-old son: 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'- 'a girl.' The father realized that at school they were teaching him gender theory, and this is against the natural things. One thing is that a person has this tendency, this condition and even changes their sex, but it's another thing to teach this in line in schools in order to change the mentality. This is what I call ideological colonization. Last year I received a letter from a Spaniard who told me his story as a child, a young man, he was a girl, a girl who suffered so much because he felt he felt like a boy, but was physically a girl. He told his mother and the mom…(the girl) was around 22 years old said that she would like to do the surgical intervention and all of those things. And the mother said not to do it while she was still alive. She was elderly and she died soon after. She had the surgery and an employee of a ministry in the city of Spain went to the bishop, who accompanied (this person) a lot. Good bishop. I spent time accompanying this man. Then (the man) got married, he changed his civil identity, got married and wrote me a letter saying that for him it would be a consolation to come with his wife, he who was she, but him! I received them: they were happy and in the neighborhood where he lived there was an elderly priest in his 80s, an elderly pastor who left the parish and helped the sisters in the parish. And there was the new (priest). When the new one he would yell from the sidewalk: 'you'll go to hell!' When he (CNA suggests this refers to the new priest but CNS and NCR suggest it refers to the woman) came across the old one, he would say: 'How long has it been since you confessed? Come, come, let's to so that I can confess you and you can receive communion.' Understood? (emphasis LifeSite)

Life is life and things must be taken as they come. Sin is sin. And tendencies or hormonal imbalances have many problems and we must be careful not to say that everything is the same. Let's go party. No, that no, but in every case I accept it, I accompany it, I study it, I discern it and I integrate it. This is what Jesus would do today! Please don't say: 'the Pope sanctifies transgenders.' Please, eh! Because I see the covers of the papers. Is there any doubt as to what I said? I want to be clear! It's moral problem. It's a human problem and it must be resolved always can be with the mercy of God, with the truth like we spoke about in the case of marriage by reading all of Amoris Laetitia, but always with an open heart. And don't forget that chapter Vézelay, it's very beautiful, eh! Very beautiful.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: eunuchs; francischurch; homosexualagenda; popefrancis; religiousleft
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last
To: ebb tide

Shut up, Frank.


21 posted on 10/03/2016 8:36:57 AM PDT by namvolunteer (Obama says the US is subservient to the UN and the Constitution does not apply. That is treason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee

This is a false pope. The enemies of the Church snuck him in.


22 posted on 10/03/2016 8:42:18 AM PDT by cradle of freedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: cradle of freedom
You stated..."This is a false pope. The enemies of the Church snuck him in.".....

I believe this is the pick room..for Pope....so who picked?


23 posted on 10/03/2016 8:46:39 AM PDT by caww
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: caww
I believe this is the pick room..for Pope....so who picked?

Cardinal Danneels Admits to Being Part of 'Mafia' Club Opposed to Benedict XVI

At the launch of the book in Brussels this week, the cardinal said he was part of a secret club of cardinals opposed to Pope Benedict XVI.

He called it a "mafia" club that bore the name of St. Gallen. The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, to make it "much more modern", and for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to head it. The group, which also comprised Cardinal Walter Kasper and the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, has been documented in Austen Ivereigh's biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer.

24 posted on 10/03/2016 9:58:04 AM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome, but it's not the first one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide

The Antichrist will come out of the Roman Church, from its upper levels. Of this I am pretty certain.


25 posted on 10/03/2016 10:01:27 AM PDT by fwdude (If we keep insisting on the lesser of two evils, that is exactly what they will give us from now on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide
His sycophants will be here in a moment to tell you that, A.) he was misquoted, B.) he is misunderstood, C.) he says that he has read the Bible, D.) who are you to question him.
26 posted on 10/03/2016 10:02:44 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Not a Romantic, not a hero worshiper and stop trying to tug my heartstrings. It tickles!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee

Totally nutz. He is Obozo’s counterpart, trying to destroy the Catholic Church from within.


27 posted on 10/03/2016 10:04:08 AM PDT by anton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: fwdude
The Antichrist will come out of the Roman Church, from its upper levels. Of this I am pretty certain.

Or out of what purports to be the Catholic Church.

28 posted on 10/03/2016 11:35:39 AM PDT by piusv (Pray for a return to the pre-Vatican II (Catholic) Faith)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: caww

Good question. These same folks who voted him in surely aren’t going to condemn him.


29 posted on 10/03/2016 11:37:29 AM PDT by piusv (Pray for a return to the pre-Vatican II (Catholic) Faith)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide

I knew it. He will declare gay marriage OK. Next is papal approval of abortion.


30 posted on 10/03/2016 11:49:22 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Hillary Clinton, the elderly woman's version of "I dindu nuffins.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide

Confused Pope


31 posted on 10/03/2016 11:58:45 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup (when the MSM wants your opinion, they will give it to you Leary is this)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Last Dakotan
I heard it said that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ "on Earth" --- but at 35,000 feet, not so much.
32 posted on 10/03/2016 12:54:17 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The floor of hell is paved wih the skulls of bishops." - St. John Chrysostom, Bishop)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: caww

There has been infiltration of the church for some time.


33 posted on 10/04/2016 8:37:48 PM PDT by cradle of freedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Exactly, he is the NWO pope. They have been working on this for more than a century. Read about what Mazzini had to say.


34 posted on 10/04/2016 8:40:45 PM PDT by cradle of freedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: stevio

And now this just adds fuel to the liberal “Faith/Justice” committee at our parish.

you should stop supporting your local Novus Ordo parish...they won’t be happy until the secular world replaces the spiritual...


35 posted on 10/05/2016 4:52:21 PM PDT by IrishBrigade
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson