Thursday, August 1, 2013

Pope Francis: "Who am I to judge?" Secular media twists compassion into approval for gay lifestyle

 
Ann Arbor, MI, July 29, 2013 - On the plane back from Brazil's World Youth Day, Pope Francis conversed with journalists on a broad range of subjects. The next morning, his statement, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" was reported by leading media outlets as a signal for change within the Catholic Church. Generally ignored was the pontiff's reiteration that the Church teaches that homosexual acts are a sin.

"This is yet another example of the mainstream media being utterly incompetent when reporting on matters of religion," says Al Kresta, author of the new book, Dangers to the Faith: Recognizing Catholicism’s 21st Century Opponents and host of Ave Maria Radio's "Kresta in the Afternoon."

He says that any journalist worthy of the title need only reference the Catechism of the Catholic Church to understand the context of the Pope's statement. "In fact," says Kresta, "one need only to read the next sentence of Pope Francis' comments: 'The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers.'"

Instead of understanding the Church's constant teaching, Kresta says the media used the Pope's words as a shameful attempt to pit Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis against each other. "The Pope broke no new ground because Catholic teaching is, and always will be, that homosexual orientation is not in and of itself sinful."

The pope also spoke about the female priesthood, "The church says no. That door is closed," he was quoted as saying. "What the media ignored was that Pope Francis called for a deeper involvement in the Church," says Teresa Tomeo, best-selling author of  Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture.

The talk show host of Ave Maria Radio's "Catholic Connection" says our last several popes have raised the bar for women. She was one of 250 delegates from around the world to attend Pope Benedict's Vatican Women's Congress in 2008. "Feminists are completely ignoring role of women in the Church," according to her. The real story, Tomeo says, is how open the Church is to leadership roles for women. "The Church looks to Mary, our Blessed Mother as an example," she says. "We are created equal for different roles, this is not about sameness. This cannot and should not include the male priesthood, but that does not mean we are sidelined."

7 comments:

  1. I've known quite a number of gays in gay relationships who attend Mass. But they have nothing to hope for as far as a change in policy from the Church. It hates what they are doing, their love for each other will never be acknowledged.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Give me a break. Allow me to just break it down for you like this; the fundamental role of a person who understands and accepts the Catholic faith is to fulfill God's plan for their life. Life is about doing God's will and carrying out the Christian vocation, if you're a Catholic. If you believe that engaging in "gay relationships" is carrying out God's will, that somehow gay relations or fornication in general is somehow what God wills for you...then you clearly don't believe in any way what the Catholic church believes. So frankly it's time to move on and just accept that your views are in complete contradiction to Church teachings, period. If you understand Catholic teachings, loving someone means you want the best for them. The best means desiring that person to be in heaven for eternity with our Lord, for eternity! That's the Catholic faith. This is not my opinion. This is in fact Catholic teaching. Why should anyone hope for change in "policy" from the Church?

      Delete
    2. Amen to Anonymous (who posted at) 10:47PM.

      Delete
    3. On this I agree with Al, the Church belongs to the laity. This means that it will eventually change and it's worth staying and fighting for. Have you not read the polls? 62% of young Catholics, 18-34, favor gay marriage. Most married Catholics practice contraception, by very wide majorities. On sexuality Catholics in America to not follow Church teaching. Are you prepared to say that the majority of Catholics are not Catholic? Really? And the most popular "religious" by far are our nuns, the majority of whom do not believe in the extreme views of the Vatican.

      Delete
    4. While I appreciate what you are saying, I believe you're operating under the assumption that Church doctrine is determined by polls or fashionable societal trends of the current age. If this were true, think of the monstrosity that our beautiful Church would be transformed into. A perfect example is what the numerous Protestant denominations have done to appease and attract their members. Also, on your second point regarding contraception, are you suggesting the Church change it's fundamental teaching on the Sacrament of Marriage thus unraveling the entire theology of the body, just because members are not following Church teaching? Again, you are assuming the problem lies within the teaching of the Church instead of the fallible will of it's members. We are called to do the will of Christ, not Him to our will.

      Peace in Christ,
      Thomas

      Delete
    5. No I agree with you. The entire structure of the Church rests on a medieval understanding of natural law, and to abandon this would bring down the Church. Reform minded people have to see this. It's the natural law conception that prevents even moderate adjustments to modernity, for good (as you think) or ill.

      Delete
  2. Tomeo's defense of women as leaders in the Church is rather laughable. Doesn't she know that all Bishops are men. All. Not one woman. As Al says here, the question of women in POWER is a "closed." The Church is CLOSED to women in power. Decisions are made by men. Just ask the American nuns! Do what we say, ladies! That's the way it is.

    ReplyDelete