VATICAN CITY (CNS) – People who act shocked that a priest would bless a gay couple but have no problem with him blessing a crooked businessman are hypocrites, Pope Francis said.
“The most serious sins are those that are disguised with a more ‘angelic’ appearance. No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people, which is a very serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual – this is hypocrisy,” he told the Italian magazine Credere.
The interview was scheduled for publication Feb. 8, but Vatican News reported on some of its content the day before when the magazine issued a press release about the interview.
There’d be a schism, with the people who are currently getting upset instead just up and leaving. That might seem like a good thing, at first, but if the goal is to get everyone to heaven, you’re not really achieving it if half the people are leaving.
I mean, you could say that you’re not achieving it either way, but that’s the thinking anyhow.
heaven isn’t real. literally all he has to do is come out and say “had a chat with god, turns out it was all a big misunderstanding. i bless gay marriage because being gay is ok!” the bar is so very low for him.
Regardless, I’m fairly sure he would disagree with you, and I was discussing his motivations.
yeah because he’s a stupid, evil man. this is very easy for him.
I try to be more generous than that when considering other people’s motivations, even those whose actions I find despicable.
It obviously doesn’t excuse despicable actions, but it does give the opportunity to recognize when people are trying to be better.
I hold leaders to a higher standard. you should too.
Holding leaders to a higher standard doesn’t mean calling them evil because they believe something different than you, it means not letting them hide behind their religion for their choices.
But given that he does believe in heaven, and the organization he leads is made out of people who also believe in heaven, the fact that he’s trying to get as many people there as possible is hard to fault him for, especially when the thing he’s doing (telling the church to be more welcoming and kind to lgbtq folks) is objectively good.
When the pope says he can’t bless gay marriage, is that not letting him hide behind his religion for his choices?
Unfortunately what he is doing is little better than “hate the sin love the sinner”.
homosexuality is not a sin.
No, it’s him acknowledging his religion and saying people should be kind and respectful anyway.
Homosexuality is a complicated subject among Catholics to say the least. Homosexual “acts” are officially a sin in Catholicism, and without the kind of change that would cause a schism, Francis can’t change that. From his perspective, if it did cause a schism anyone on the wrong side of the schism would be in jeopardy, and even if they weren’t they’d just continue on calling people sinners for being gay which Francis and the official stance of the church does oppose.
So the Pope saying it’s okay to bless people even if you think they might be sinning may not be the most progressive thing in the world, may not be the most progressive thing he could say, but I do understand why he would say what he’s saying instead of something more concrete.
I don’t have to agree with everything he says or thinks to recognize that.