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Gay Man Has Emotional Private Conversation With The Pope
The man was completely taken aback by what the Pope told him.
D.G. Sciortino
05.25.18

Homophobia has its roots in religion. The Catholic Church, under Pope John Paul II, deemed that โ€œhomosexual tendenciesโ€ are โ€œobjectively disorderedโ€ and go against Godโ€™s law.

The Church sees gay people as having some type of disorder.

Pope John Paul II wrote in 1992 that gay individuals โ€œdo not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial.โ€ But the current Pope, Pope Francis has different views.

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Remo Casilli/Reuters
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Remo Casilli/Reuters

When asked about gay priests in 2013, he said, โ€œWho am I to judge?โ€ He also called on Catholics to treat LGBT people with dignity and respect, according to Religion News Service.

Pope Francis again widened his stance on homosexuality by telling a gay victim of clerical sexual abuse that Godโ€™s loves us just way we are, even if weโ€™re gay, and that we should love ourselves too.

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Pope Francis told Juan Carols Cruz, a key whistleblower in Chileโ€™s clerical sex abuse scandal, that his sexuality โ€œdoes not matter.โ€

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AP Photo/Andres Kudacki

โ€œYou know Juan Carlos, that does not matter. God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say,โ€ is what Cruz said the Pope told him, in an interview with CNN.

The Vatican, however, has declined to comment on the conversation.

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Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke told CNN that โ€œWe do not normally comment on the Popeโ€™s private conversations.โ€ The Popeโ€™s comments on homosexuality are by no means a sign of full equality for homosexuals in the Catholic Church.

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However, it is a step in the right direction. Pope Francis is by far the most progressive Pope to date. But if God made homosexuals โ€œlike thisโ€ why would he make them โ€œintrinsically disorderedโ€?

I guess weโ€™ll have to wait for the Popeโ€™s answer to that.

In the meantime, Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at Romeโ€™s Pontifical Holy Cross University, gave the Associated Press his own interpretation of Pope Francisโ€™ comments.

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Den of Geek

โ€œWhat the pope was saying is, โ€™God loves you and made you just as you are, and therefore you should accept yourself as you are while struggling to live according to the Gospel,โ€™โ€ Gahl said.

Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry which advocates for the equality of LGBT Catholics applauded the Popeโ€™s remarks, but wished they were made publicly.

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โ€œIt would do a lot better if he would make these statements publicly, because LGBT people need to hear that message from religious leaders, from Catholic leaders,โ€ he said.

The New York Times
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The New York Times

Advocates say that the Catholic Churchโ€™s current stance on homosexuality leaves gay Catholics with a sense of guilt and inadequacy.

Cruz, however, told the New York Times that many of his gay friends told him they felt โ€œrelievedโ€ after the Popeโ€™s comments to him.

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โ€œDid he really tell you that? I feel so relieved,โ€ he said one of his friends wrote him. Another said, โ€œIโ€™m in the gym and I feel like crying.โ€

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