The Pope during his public audience this Wednesday CLAUDIO PERI (EFE)
In an interview with the AP news agency, Pope Francis has criticized countries that apply laws that criminalize homosexual people. The pope has called these regulations “unfair”, also stressed that God loves all his children and referred to the bishops or bishops’ conferences who still support these laws to welcome the LGTBI community into their midst. “Being gay is not a crime,” he said. Although, as always when he brings up the subject, he has pointed out that it is in fact a “sin”. “First, let us distinguish sin from crime. But the lack of charity is also a sin,” he put it into perspective.
Francis has been concerned with the issue of homosexuality since the beginning of his pontificate. It was in his famous statement in 2013, returning from his trip to Brazil, that he launched the question, “Who am I to judge?” The Pope has always said that homosexuals must be accepted by their families and has referred to the LGTBI community valuing their rights as citizens. He has also defended registered civil partnerships for homosexual people and has spoken on numerous occasions of “helping” but “without imposing on the Church things which by their very nature cannot be imposed”. However, he often added some controversial nuances. Especially when he has more than once recommended parents who recognize this sexual orientation early on to take their children to a psychologist.
Francis insisted in the interview that bishops must change their approach to this issue through a “path of conversion” to “show tenderness that God has with each one of us.” In the legal part, he thinks very clearly, as he already expressed on his return trip from Slovakia. “I made that clear. Marriage is a sacrament of the Church and cannot be changed, but there are laws that try to help the situation of so many people of different sexual orientations and that is important.” Another thing is the theological question.
“I am healthy”
In the same interview, the Pope raised the question of a possible resignation after the death of Benedict XVI. Without the Pope Emeritus character, the way would be clear if Jorge Mario Bergoglio felt he should resign. “I’m healthy. I’m normal because of my age,” he said. “I may die tomorrow, but come on, it’s controlled. I’m in good health,” he said ironically.
In any case, Bergoglio assured that he did not wish to resign in the short term, but if he did, it would be under the title Bishop Emeritus of Rome – not Pope Emeritus like his predecessor – and would prefer to live in a residence for retired priests. No way, it seems, would I go back to Argentina. Regarding Benedict XVI. and the decision to remain in Rome indicated that he could not do it with absolute freedom. “He was still the slave, in quotes, of a pope, right? “Francisco meant” From the vision of a pope, a system. Slave in the best sense of the word. inside [sentido de] that he was not entirely free, perhaps he would have wanted to return to his Germany and continue studying theology from there”.
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