LF: Pope Francis makes groundbreaking apology to gay people and says the Catholic Church must seek forgiveness for the way it treated them in the past

Title: Pope Francis makes groundbreaking apology to gay people and says the Catholic Church must seek forgiveness for the way it treated them in the past
Source: Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... ginalized-deserve-apology.html
Published: Jun 27, 2016
Author: Associated Press and Reuters and Clemenc
Post Date: 2016-06-27 08:59:41 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 824
Comments: 7

Pope Francis said the Catholic Church should apologize to gay people for the way it treated them in the past.

The pontiff made the groundbreaking apology on his way back from Armenia Sunday as he spoke to reporters on his plane.

One of them asked if Francis agreed with one of his top advisers, who said after the Orlando, Florida massacre that the Church should seek forgiveness from gay people for having marginalized them.

Francis recalled Church teachings that homosexuals 'should not be discriminated against' but should be treated with respect and 'accompanied pastorally'.

The Pope looked sad when the reporter asked if an apology was made more urgent by the killing of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando this month.

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of the Pope's top advisers, told a conference in Dublin days after the shooting that the Church owed an apology to gay people for having marginalized them.

Francis said Sunday: 'I think that the Church not only should apologize [...] to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologize to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by being forced to work. It must apologize for having blessed so many weapons.'

The Church teaches that homosexual tendencies are not sinful but homosexual acts are, and that homosexuals should try to be chaste.

Francis (pictured with Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as they released white doves on Sunday) said the church should also seek forgiveness from the poor and from exploited people

Francis repeated a slightly modified version of the now-famous 'Who am I to judge?' comment he made about gays on the first foreign trip after his election in 2013.

'The questions is: if a person who has that condition, who has good will, and who looks for God, who are we to judge?' he asked.

The pope did not imply a medical condition but 'a person in that situation', Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

In Italian, the word 'condition' can also mean 'situation'.

'We Christians have to apologize for so many things, not just for this,' Francis added, referring to the treatment of gay people.

'But we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologize! Forgiveness! Lord, it is a word we forget so often!'

Francis has been hailed by many in the gay community for being the most merciful pope towards them in recent history.

Conservative Catholics have criticized him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality.

The Pope told reporters on the plane 'there are traditions in some countries, some cultures, that have a different mentality about this question' and there are 'some [gay] demonstrations that are too offensive for some'.

But he suggested that those were not grounds for discrimination or marginalization.

The pope did not elaborate on what he meant by seeking forgiveness for the Church 'having blessed so many weapons', but it appeared to be a reference to some Churchmen who actively backed wars in the past.

In other parts of the conversation, Francis said he hoped the European Union would be able to give itself another form after the United Kingdom's decision to leave.

'There is something that is not working in that bulky union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, let's try to jump-start things, to re-create,' he said.

He also denied reports that former Pope Benedict, who resigned in 2013, was still exercising influence inside the Vatican.

'There is only one pope,' he said. He praised Benedict, 89, for 'protecting me, having my back, with his prayers'.

Francis said he had heard that when some Church officials had gone to Benedict to complain that Francis was too liberal, Benedict 'sent them packing'.