'God Made You This Way And Loves You', Pope Francis Tells Gay Man! LGBT Community Rejoice
Pope Francis told the man that his sexuality does not matter and both God and the pontiff himself loved him the way he was.
Pope Francis in a private meeting reportedly told a Chilean survivor of clerical sexual abuse that God made him gay. In an indication of inclusion by the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis told the man that his sexuality does not matter and both God and the pontiff himself loved him the way he was. Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse was at the Vatican in April when he spent three days with Pope Francis. During the time he discussed his sexuality and the abuse he was subjected to with the Pope.
Cruz told CNN quoting the Pope as saying, "You know Juan Carlos, that does not matter. God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say." The Vatican declined to react on the Pope's private remarks.
Following the Pope's comment, TIME quoted DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry which advocates equality for LGBT Catholics, hailed the Pope's comments as "tremendous". He said, "It would do a lot better if he would make these statements publicly, because LGBT people need to hear that message from religious leaders, from Catholic leaders."
The Pope's words come antonymous to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church which considers homosexuality contrary to the Bible and God. The Vatican found Fernando Karadima, the Chilean priest who abused Cruz as guilty in 2011. At a three-day emergency summit at the Vatican last week, all the bishops in Chile offered their resignation to Pope Francis.
A total of 31 active bishops and three retired bishops announced that they had offered to resign over the scandal. They had said that they will place the issue "in the hands of the Holy Father so that he might freely decide for each one of us."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 22, 2018 09:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).