Frank Wilson, my friend and former editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, offers his take on Pope Francis and his visit to Philadelphia, Washington and New York at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The media like it when Pope Francis says something that can be construed as
"progressive," even when what he says, taken in context, turns out to be pretty
unexceptional.
"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill," the pontiff said in July 2013 on a flight back from Brazil, "who am I to judge?"
"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill," the pontiff said in July 2013 on a flight back from Brazil, "who am I to judge?"
It
is true that this pronouncement differs sharply from the position of Francis'
predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict called homosexuality "a strong tendency
ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil," and suggested that any man with
"deep-seated homosexual tendencies" should not enter the priesthood. This latter
view seems peculiar, given that every man who enters the priesthood, whether
straight or gay, must remain celibate.
But
Francis' remark echoes Jesus' own advice to "judge not, lest ye be judged."
Likewise, his recent call for Christians to resist the temptation of the "God of
money" is paralleled by Jesus' own observation that "you cannot serve God and
mammon."
Even
the business about extending the right to forgive what Catholics regard as the
sin of abortion to all priests is not as innovative as it has been made out to
be. To begin with, bishops already had discretion in this matter, and many had
already done as the pope has (and his extension is only for the Year of Mercy
that begins in December).
The
bottom line, though, is that if the Catholic Church is about anything, it is
about the forgiveness of sins, and any steps taken to make the path to
forgiveness easier can only be regarded as strictly orthodox.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
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