A bit of good news among the current doom and gloom. Pope Francis says Christians should apologize to gay people - CNN.com I don't really know what to say here... Hope it would be a step in finally purging homophobia from all mainstream Christian doctrines for good. And the remark about the blessing of weapons is in many ways, an even bigger deal.
It will be interesting to see if his words spark any change in the way the Catholic Church operates in the US. In 2014 Catholic schools in Ohio started putting morality clauses in their school teachers contracts. You not only couldn't be gay, you couldn't even voice support for gay people even if you personally were straight, even if you weren't at school. It didn't even matter what you taught either. Even a math teacher who never taught religion was under the same standard. Catholic school teacher with gay son quits in protest This next excuse is particularly hypocritical. It's almost like what my mothers new pastor told her, that you shouldn't shun or disown your daughter for her lifestyle, you should still love her and keep her part of the family, and continually preach to her how she is going to eternal damnation in hell. (paraphrasing of course :lol: ) Catholic teacher contract specifies banned practices I couldn't find on the internet any current information that the Catholic church still has the morality clause in the 2016 contract. If it does, I wonder what would happen to a teacher who publicly said the same thing as the Pope?
Check the date. It's from June 27, 2016. Pope Francis told hurtful things since then. For example, this: https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/10/01/pope-calls-gender-theory-global-war-family/ (October 1, 2016)
Francis is bit better than the others, however, he is far from an ideal "benevolent" leader. It is easy to say something nice one day, without taking any real action to stop prejudice in the group you are leading. In other words, yes, it is nice of him to say that. But , before praising him for it, let's be careful and take a look at the other things he is/isn't doing. And that goes for any news: Check other sources, check what happened before/after the fact, so you can get a better understanding of what is happening.
Let's be clear about what he's not apologizing for: He's not apologizing for teaching that gay relationships are "intrinsically disordered," nor is he apologizing for openly opposing marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples. He still upholds those things. This apology is hollow. He says that they should apologize to gay for discrimination, yet openly supports discrimination against us (e.g., opposing marriage equality).
BobObob is definitely right. His apology means absolutely nothing if he still advocates for the continued discrimination he's apologizing for. However, I do think that this Pope us definitely the best we've had. His stances on things like the environment and the cosmogony are avant-garde for the Catholic Church. Maybe this is the start of a line of relatively progressive Popes. I may not be Catholic but I do believe in God and given the amount the amount of respect the Pope has, I hope we'll get one who's a legitimate ally of the LGBT community.
Ugh, Church usually goes with the flow and sets its boundaries accordingly. Likely he'd be singing a different tune if he spoke from a position of a greater power, like in a non-secular state.
Something I think a lot of people miss is that he's not condoning homosexual behaviour, he's admitting people are acting improper towards homosexuals. In Christianity you aren't supposed to abuse people, mistreat people, or otherwise do anything un-loving; but that's not the same as accepting certain practices or behaviours. Many people claiming to be Christians have been hurtful, evil and wicked towards those that are gay or the like, it's unbiblical and it's not right.
If this is true then this is a really good thing. It would make progress in the right direction and maybe LGBT people would feel more welcome in the church
Who really cares if Pope Francis said this? I know that none of the extremist Christians will. They have a brilliant skill for hearing only what they want to hear so they probably won't give this a second thought. In addition they have a wonderful imagination and ability to interpret the world around them in a way that suites their cause, so even if they do hear or read what their 'leader' tells them, they will turn it into some kind of negative bigotry. Any person who follows true christian values has no apology to make as they already knew that they should love everyone and not judge others. They have and will always be good people regardless of the church and pope. There is a big difference between someone who lives a Christian lifestyle and someone who subscribes to the church teachings and it's my opinion that those in the second group do so because it gives them an excuse to feel superior to others, not to follow the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, Francis' words won't make them truer Christians, they will just make them extreme Christians that want a different pope.