{"id":14789,"date":"2016-06-26T21:24:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T21:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-francis-says-church-must-accompany-gays-not-discriminate-96156\/"},"modified":"2016-06-26T21:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T21:24:00","slug":"pope-francis-says-church-must-accompany-gays-not-discriminate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/06\/pope-francis-says-church-must-accompany-gays-not-discriminate\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis says Church must accompany gays, not discriminate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Aboard the papal plane, Jun 26, 2016 \/ 03:24 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In a wide-ranging inflight press conference on his way back from Armenia on Sunday, Pope Francis responded to a question on recent comments made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who said the Church must apologize to homosexual persons for having \u201cmarginalized\u201d them.<\/p>\n

Francis agreed that the Church ought to apologize in cases of discrimination against individuals struggling with same-sex attraction, and referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which emphasizes the need to accompany and respect these persons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally,\u201d the Pope said June 26 on board his return flight from Armenia to Rome.<\/p>\n

The problem is \u201ca person that has a condition,\u201d he said, but, echoing his comment on the way back from Rio de Janiero in 2013, noted that that if the person \u201chas good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must accompany them well\u2026this is what the catechism says, a clear catechism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis spoke to some 70 journalists aboard his flight from Armenia, which he visited June 24-26.<\/p>\n

While there, he met with the country\u2019s president Serzh Sargsyan and visited memorial sites honoring those fallen during the Metz Yegh\u00e9rn, also called the Armenian Genocide. He also met privately and signed a joint declaration with Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n

In the course of the hour-long conversation with journalists, Francis touched on topics including Brexit, female deacons, Christian unity, and the role of the Pope emeritus.<\/p>\n

He was asked his opinion on comments made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising on Thursday at a conference in Dublin titled \u201cThe Role of Church in a Pluralist Society: Good Riddance or Good Influence?\u201d<\/p>\n

During the conference, held at Trinity College, the cardinal said that \u201cthe history of homosexuals in our societies is very bad because we\u2019ve done a lot to marginalize (them).\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Church and as a society, \u201cwe\u2019ve also (got) to say \u2018sorry, sorry,\u2019\u201d the cardinal said.<\/p>\n

The question, in addition to asking for the Pope\u2019s opinion on the cardinal\u2019s comments, also asked for his thoughts on accusations following the Orlando shooting that Christians were partly to blame for the hatred that led to the incident.<\/p>\n

He noted how in certain countries there is a \u201cdifferent mentality\u201d to this problem, and said the Church \u201cmust not only ask forgiveness to the gay person who is offended. But she must ask forgiveness to the poor too, to women who are exploited, to children who are exploited for labor. She must ask forgiveness for having blessed so many weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He emphasized that \u201cChristians must ask forgiveness for having not accompanied so many choices, so many families \u2026 Christians must ask forgiveness for many things, not just these. Forgiveness, not just apologies,\u201d he said, noting that while there are a lot of Christians, pastors included, who are not holy, there are \u201cmany saints\u201d who are not seen, because true holiness is \u201chidden.\u201d<\/p>\n

He referred to the parable of the wheat and the weeds, and said we ought to pray for the Lord to take out the weeds and make the wheat grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the life of the Church. We can\u2019t put limits. All of us are saints, because all of us have the Holy Spirit,\u201d he said, but also cautioned that \u201cwe are all sinners, me first of all!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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