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Francis: Christians must apologize to gay people for marginalizing them | National Catholic Reporter
Being that I am not Catholic, I don't tend to pay that much attention to the Pope when he tried to tell me how I should act and what I should do, as this particular Pope tends to do, a lot. However, when he tells his own church members what to do and how to act, I do pay attention because they make up the largest Christian church in the world.
In this instance, he's talking about actions that all Christians should take, but he does so through his own church members. Nonetheless, when he says "Who are we to judge them?" I go back to my understanding of the New Testament and what Jesus taught us, and I have to agree with him completely. As for the Catholic Church apologizing to gays, women, children, and the poor, well, that's something I don't feel comfortable opining about since, again, I'm not Catholic.
As for me, as a Christian, I apologized a long time ago, when I realized that the opinions I grew up being taught, were hateful and just plain wrong. I've grown and learned - it appears that the Catholic Church via this Pope, is growing and learning as well (at least on the subject of gays).
Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 26, 2016
Aboard the papal flight to Rome -- The Catholic church and other Christian communities must apologize to gay people and to many groups they have let down or offended throughout history, Pope Francis has said.
In a press conference Sunday on the flight back to Rome after his weekend trip to Armenia, the pontiff said bluntly: "The church must say it's sorry for not having comported itself well many times, many times."
"I believe that the church not only must say it's sorry ... to this person that is gay that it has offended," said the pope. "But it must say it's sorry to the poor, also, to mistreated women, to children forced to work."
"When I say the church: Christians," Francis clarified. "The church is healthy. We are the sinners."
The pope was responding to a question about remarks German Cardinal Reinhard Marx made last week that the Catholic church should apologize to the gay community for marginalizing them.
"I will repeat the same thing I said on the first trip," Francis said today, referencing the press conference he held on a return flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013. "I will also repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that [gay people] should not be discriminated against, that they have to be respected, pastorally accompanied."
"The matter is a person that has that condition [and] that has good will because they search for God," said the pontiff.
"Who are we to judge them?" he asked, reframing his famous phrase from 2013 into the plural. "We must accompany well -- what the Catechism says. The Catechism is clear."
[...]
Being that I am not Catholic, I don't tend to pay that much attention to the Pope when he tried to tell me how I should act and what I should do, as this particular Pope tends to do, a lot. However, when he tells his own church members what to do and how to act, I do pay attention because they make up the largest Christian church in the world.
In this instance, he's talking about actions that all Christians should take, but he does so through his own church members. Nonetheless, when he says "Who are we to judge them?" I go back to my understanding of the New Testament and what Jesus taught us, and I have to agree with him completely. As for the Catholic Church apologizing to gays, women, children, and the poor, well, that's something I don't feel comfortable opining about since, again, I'm not Catholic.
As for me, as a Christian, I apologized a long time ago, when I realized that the opinions I grew up being taught, were hateful and just plain wrong. I've grown and learned - it appears that the Catholic Church via this Pope, is growing and learning as well (at least on the subject of gays).