I seem to have missed putting this on the blog. Pope Francis says that homosexuality is not a crime but it is still a sin.
Then he needed to clarify what he meant by that: he meant sin as in "any sexual act outside of marriage is a sin". Pope Francis clarifies comments on homosexuality: One must consider the circumstances.
What does this really mean? That if homosexuals get married with the church's blessing (holy sacrament of marriage), then homosexual acts are not a sin?
There are problems with the questions from Outreach, in the first place. Question 2 is problematic and I quote: ""Being gay is a sin," which, of course, is not part of church teaching." Say what? Has Humanae Vitae been struck down? Has the longstanding position that marriage is "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" disappeared? I think not.
An interesting blog post comes from New Waves Ministry (Building bridges between the LGBTQ ministry and the Catholic Church since 1977). I just add it here because it shows just how difficult this issue is within Christianity, much less the RCC. "50 Years Later, Lessons from "Humanae Vitae" Debate readily Applicable to LGBT Issues". And this also highlights just how divided the Roman Catholic Church is on this issue.
Pope Francis is doing his best, I think, to change the channel on LGBTIQ issues but he needs to do a lot more and he doesn't have much time. The next Pope could well reinstitute reactionary thinking on this subject. If fact, if history tells us anything, then that is what will happen.
