alextrendy:
CHRISTIANS MUST APOLOGIZE TO GAYS-POPE FRANCIS http://alextrendy.com/christians-must-apologize-gays-pope-francis

Pope Francis has reiterated his relatively tolerant stance towards LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) people, offering new details about a 2013 incident where he responded to a question about gay priests by saying “who am I to judge?”

In a new book set to be published on Tuesday, Pope Francis is quoted talking to an Italian journalist about the famous quip, which triggered a firestorm of media coverage and speculation over whether the pontiff would alter the Catholic Church’s firm opposition to same-sex relationships. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the book cites Francis as he clarifies his theological justification for taking a more tolerant stance towards LGBT people.

“On that occasion I said this: If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?” the pope says in the new book, The Name of God is Mercy. “I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized.”

“I am glad that we are talking about ‘homosexual people’ because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity,” Francis says. “And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies: let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love.”

“I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together,” Francis also says, in a possible reference to the Church’s historical stance that same-sex relationships are sinful. “You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way, and accompany them along it.”

The new quotes effectively repeat what is often described as Francis’ shift in “tone” regarding LGBT issues. The pontiff has never contradicted the Catholic Church’s official opposition to LGBT relationships, which describes same-sex “inclinations” as “objectively disordered.”

But Francis has dramatically shifted the way the church approaches the issue, articulating a far more inclusive vision while meeting privately with a Spanish transgender man, dining with LGBT prisoners, and openly embracing a gay couple in Washington, D.C. Francis’ attitude contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who was vocally opposed to LGBT relationships and called same-sex marriage a threat to the “future of humanity itself.”