Pope Francis said Christians should apologize to gays and other people who have been offended by the church.
His statement, which came Sunday at a press conference aboard the papal
plane, has sparked some questions and confusion over how the pope’s
papacy is changing Catholicism.
"I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they
must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and
accompanied pastorally," Francis said.
"I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who
is gay whom it has offended," he added, "but has to apologize to the
poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask
forgiveness for having blessed many weapons,” he added.
Francis has not made any changes to church doctrine on homosexuality, but his more “merciful” comments have led to questions.
"Just about every time Francis says anything, the liberals in the Roman
Catholic Church are encouraged and the conservatives are thrown into
near panic whether or not they’re ready publicly to admit that state,”
said Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
"In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope has now sowed the seeds for the
expectation that his Church will change its doctrine, its official
teaching, on the question of homosexuality.
“The current catechism of the Roman Catholic Church still very much in
effect and continuing the teaching of the Church throughout time states
that homosexuality is inherently and gravely disordered and is always
disordered; it can never be blessed as a moral good. And that’s exactly
what the Roman Catholic Church officially teaches. But remember that on
the issue of marriage and divorce, the Pope basically said yes, that’s
what the church officially teaches, but then gave his priestly authority
to renegotiate that in terms of the pastoral situation."
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