Pope: Gays and others marginalized deserve an apology

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Pope: Gays and others marginalized deserve an apology
By NICOLE WINFIELD

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis says gays — and all the other people the church has marginalized, such as the poor and the exploited — deserve an apology.

Francis was asked Sunday en route home from Armenia if he agreed with one of his top advisers, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who told a conference in Dublin in the days after the deadly Orlando gay club attack that the church owes an apology to gays for having marginalized them.

Francis responded with a variation of his famous "Who am I to judge?" comment and a repetition of church teaching that gays must not be discriminated against but treated with respect.

He said some politicized behaviors of the homosexual community can be condemned for being "a bit offensive for others." But he said: "Someone who has this condition, who has good will and is searching for God, who are we to judge?"

"We must accompany them," Francis said.

"I think the church must not only apologize ... to a gay person it offended, but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor, apologize for having blessed so many weapons" and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems.

Francis uttered his "Who am I to judge?" comment during his first airborne press conference in 2013, signaling a new era of acceptance and welcome for gays in the church. Francis followed up by meeting with gay and transgender faithful, and most significantly, by responding to claims that he met with anti-gay marriage campaigner Kim Davis during his U.S. visit. He said the only personal meeting he held in Washington was with his gay former student and his partner.

Despite such overtures, however, many gay Catholics are still waiting for progress after a two-year consultation of the church on family issues failed to chart concrete, new pastoral avenues for them.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters after Francis' press conference that the pope wasn't referring to a medical "condition" when he spoke of gays, but rather a lifestyle situation.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the cardinal's name is Reinhard Marx, not Karl.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-06-27

[Pimay1]

but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, says the pope sitting on his throne in a city filled with gold and riches.

An apology means nothing without action to remedy the wrongs that have been done. The church has made the poor people of this world even more poor by their no contraceptive rules and should start giving back to the poor what they have exploited from them.

[halloween]

Karl Marx? Groucho would have been closer.

[shirtless]

WE should say sorry , why what planet is this guy from,

[DM07]

Finally, someone in the Catholic Church, who seems to have at least a partial grip on reality!

[ddavidovsky]

That must be a bitter pill for all the priests who have entered the priesthood as a renunciation of their own homosexuality.

[halloween]

That must be a bitter pill for all the priests who have entered the priesthood as a renunciation of their own homosexuality.

So cloistered rather than closeted?

[Fairynuff]

he said: "Someone who has this condition, who has good will and is searching for God, who are we to judge?"

I'd argue that suffering from Christianity is a far worse condition than homosexuality. Given that so many of his flock are gay, he's got a lot of apologizing to do

[sanukjim]

WE should say sorry , why what planet is this guy from,

He needs to open the records on "ALL" of hie "BUGGERING and Raping" priest that has escaped from punishment .How about sharing the riches that the church has horded all these years along with his apology.The Hypocrite.

[hugocnx]

Pope is not a Christian. He is a Catholic Jezuit Illuminati

[ggt]

I would think the robbing and killing of innocent people...would deserve an apology more...take just one instance...the Spanish Inquisition for example...

[NovaBlue05]

The papal platitude du jour.

[Jingthing]

I would think the robbing and killing of innocent people...would deserve an apology more...take just one instance...the Spanish Inquisition for example...

Dude, been done already. OLD news.

[ggt]

I would think the robbing and killing of innocent people...would deserve an apology more...take just one instance...the Spanish Inquisition for example...

Dude, been done already. OLD news.

My point being...without doing a complete history lesson of the disasters perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church...clean up your own act...there's plenty of more monsters to expose...before chiding the rest of the world...why doesn't the Pope take on the Islamic religion's stance on the gay community?

[hugocnx]

Because he needs the muslims to exterminate Christianity.

[Doc46]

What a load off crap,What is Apologising going to do , And what is this WE bullshit,,,If he means the ,,CHURCH,,Than he should apologise for all the Rock spiders in his Flock whom made it an living Hell for for so many assaulted /molested Children and Women /Men and Destroyed their Bodies an Lives.

Saying Sorry is like Slapping and Spitting all the Hurt people in the Face,,,,Religion Brainwashing Hypocrites,,,,