Pope: ‘Who Am I to Judge’ Gay Priests?

Last Updated on January 31, 2018

Pope Francis’s response to a reporter’s question about gay priests set off a firestorm among Christians this week. But was his response so unreasonable?

It’s been called everything from ignoring the Bible and God’s teaching to a revolutionary conciliatory attitude toward the gay community within the church.

Pope Francis, departing from a foreign trip to Brazil, told reporters, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

He went on to add: “When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency (to be homosexual) is not the problem. They are our brothers.”

The issue seems to be a question of what “homosexual” means when one gets referred to by that term. If we’re talking about someone who is engaging in acts, that’s a difficult thing to justify Biblically, just as it’s difficult to justify opposite-sex sexual relations outside of a committed marriage. But if we’re talking about someone who doesn’t act on the attraction he or she feels, but still finds himself or herself attracted to members of the same sex, how can that, exactly, be a sin?

Still, religious leaders were quick to point out there was no significant policy change here.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, appeared on CBS This Morning Tuesday said Francis was merely stating in a tender way the longtime teachings of the church, “that while certain acts may be wrong, we must love and respect the person and treat the person with dignity.”

“A person’s identity, respect, the dignity and love that he or she deserves, does not depend on anything — sexual orientation, how much money we got [sic], if we got [sic] a green card or immigration papers, if we got [sic] a stock portfolio — doesn’t depend on anything other than the fact that we’re a child of God made in His image and likeness.”

When asked about the strong reaction, particularly the positive reaction that seemed to characterize the Pope’s remarks as being so different from what the church has said publicly in the past, Dolan seemed incredulous:

“What surprises me is that people are surprised. Charlie, wasn’t it with you I was on at Easter time … and you asked me … ‘What would you say to a gay couple who came to me and said, ‘What would you say to us?” And I said, ‘the church says to you, we love you, we need you. Come on in, you’re welcome.’ People thought that was revolutionary. What surprises me is that people are surprised.”

I’m surprised that he’s surprised that people are surprised.

It was back in 2007 that the Barna Group, a Christian research firm, interviewed 16- to 29-year-olds to choose words that best characterize their view of today’s Christianity.

Think about it for a moment. Think about the God Christians represent.

They were presented with both positive choices like “offers hope” and negative choices like “judgmental”.

Guess what 91% of non-Christians in that age group ranked as the top descriptor: antihomosexual.

Even sadder: of all the options they could have chosen, 80% of churchgoers did, too.

Of all the good attributes that describe God, “antihomosexual” was the top attribute that describes His people.

What’s wrong with this picture?

I’m glad Pope Francis is willing to phrase things in a way that might bring more people into the church. It’s not about being “politically-correct,” but rather being “Biblically correct.” The Pope never said that he’d accept homosexual acts as anything other than a sin. But as with all other sins, struggles and addictions, we seem to have too easy a time forgetting that in each case, there’s one of God’s children in the middle of it.

They have just as much value in God’s eyes as you do.

If we’re going to call ourselves Christian, that’s a point we shouldn’t be so quick to forget.