Pope Francis Discusses Gay Catholics: 'Who Am I To Judge?'

The pope also used the occasion to expand on his June remarks about a "gay lobby" in the Vatican, clarifying that "he was against all lobbies, not just gay ones," the Italian news agency ANSA reports.

"Being gay is a tendency. The problem is the lobby," ANSA quotes the pontiff saying. "The lobby is unacceptable, the gay one, the political one, the Masonic one."

Says the guy who began papacy with opinions over falklands sovereignty.
BS in religious affairs? Check.

ren wrote: Says the guy who began papacy with opinions over falklands sovereignty.
BS in religious affairs? Check.

BS is the most highly respected rite in 5000 years of religious tradition. Wouldn't want to break from that, would we ... ?

Alexandre Orion wrote: And this is why Jedi observe, feel and use wisdom, focus and knowledge, in the measure of possible, to come to believe what we may believe from where and when we are in discovering the who and what ... Science is taking care of finding out how.

We do not say what to believe, just "to believe ..."

The Force (given that is the name we will call it) reveals Itself -- we don't need to preach it.

And when the time is right 'for an individual' to seek 'the answer' (or is it the question?), if it ever is, then they will seek their own answers... Whatever they may be..

I found it quite hard to get excited about his stance on gay priests when he immediately followed it up by saying that 'the door is closed' for women priests.

Yes, he did follow this up by explaining that he believes that women have a very important place in the Church (more important than Bishops and Priests) and that he just hasn't worked it out yet - but it doesn't wash with me.

So in one interview he said that he has no right to judge gays...and then immediately demonstrates that he considers himself a judge over [the place of] women in the Catholic Church.

http://youtu.be/litnTBtYMGY

Its our (human) progression...

I noticed it too...

And while it bugged me, I didnt want it to overshadow the small bit of ground gained..lol...

Women in the clregy will be next...

It may just take another 500 years, lol...

As I said in my last post... If they dont change fast enough, they will die as a belief...

He didn't really change the views of the Catholic Church. He just reminded people of what it means to be Christian. He says that, while homosexuality is a sin, it is not for him to judge individuals and ostracize them. And gay priests are certainly okay with him because they aren't supposed to be having romantic or sexual relationships with anyone anyway. That is a change from the previous pope who didn't accept gay people at all ever for any reason. This one isn't saying "being gay is just fine let's all go to Pride." He's only saying that Christians don't judge others for their sins even when they know their actions to be sinful. It is an important step in the right direction, but it isn't as drastic or insane as a lot of people are making it out to be.

This comes off harsher in my rereads than it is meant too...

Sorry...

Its not intended too....

Remember, I am smiling...

Read it a Daffy Duck, or Sylvester the Cat voice, if that helps lighten the mood...

Oh, I'm not arguing that this isn't a big deal at all, but I've seen a lot of my friends on Facebook acting like this means they're going to start allowing gay marriages next week. He never said acting on homosexuality is okay, just that being homosexual is fine (which has been the stance of the church for a while anyway). He's reminding people not to judge, which they shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Mostly he's telling Catholics to get it together and remember to live in Christ, and I think that is very important and definitely would be a refreshing change.

Thanks...

I almost didnt post my response,and actually sent it to another Council Memebr to make sure I wasnt coming off too strong... I worry my rebuttals sometimes sound too serious, and this environment does not do my sense of humor justice...

I got a ton of goofy facial expressions noone here can see... And if you could see what I am starting with, you'd see I have quite the head start to begin with!! haha...

Anyway, I see what you mean, I appreciate your explanation...

Yes, It does have to be looked at, at face value... Dont read anything into what he says...

Thats the trouble many times, people read into stuff, how they feel stuff should be read...

If Im crabby, (hey, it happens!), sometimes I catch the nasty voice reading the posts of others... And I have to reread to make make sure Im not just projecting my crappy-ness onto the words of others...

Yea, we were taught to judge... You confuse Christians, with Catholics... while Catholics are Christians, they are not a tolerant, understanding, loving, branch of Christianity...

I come from a (formerly?) catholic country. Back then I thought catholics were OK. I mean of the entire population there's, what, 10% that goes to church? and of those, 80% are harmless, 20% believe in god, of which half are the gay hating kind...

I live in england and "know" the US fairly well (mostly from you guys and the news), and those two non-catholic countries have God in their state schools. Next to that I went to one of the top catholic (private) schools in my country, and they couldn't dispense religious education because they were partially funded by the government. Spain and Portugal recognize full-blown gay marriage as well, and they're catholic...