27 June 2016
Pope Francis has said (click here) that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them.
He told reporters that the Church had no right to judge the gay community, and should show them respect. The pontiff also said the Church should seek forgiveness from other people it had marginalised - women, the poor, and children forced into labour.
The Pope has been hailed by many in the gay community for his positive attitude towards homosexuals.
But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality....
"UNJUST DISCRIMINATION" (click here)
One of the most frequently quoted paragraphs today from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the paragraph that specifies that homosexuals:
. . . do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided (CCC #2358).What seems to be meant by "unjust discrimination" here is surely what is most commonly meant by the term, namely, that homosexuals should not, because of their condition alone, be subjected to disadvantages or penalties in such things as their persons, residence, employment, and the like; or, especially in the present social climate, that they should not be subjected to ridicule, harassment, or abuse.
Most Catholics today, including the present leadership of the Catholic Church in America, seem to be not only very comfortable with this teaching but strongly approving of it....
