supaeagles: The pope's message is simple : "dislike the sin and not the sinner" .... after all who amongst us is without sin??

home girl: i am a catholic and i must tell you the pope has brought shame on majority of us catholics. even in my church on sunday our preached told us to refrain from sin. so how can pope of all people encourage gay. this is so so bad.

FOLYKAZE:


Stop quoting bible here. The pope know it more than you do. The catholic compiled the book so I wonder how you can know more than the owner of the book. The whole buy-bull you reading is the outcome of council debate.

Also, how is two grown men choice of been s.exually intimated your own problem? Why judging them?

oiseworld: With the comment I'm seeing here on nairaland, I might be forced to give up on the catholic church. if the pope the head of the catholic church can not condemn sin, then he and his followers are doomed. Where the hell is he leading them to? .....yes to hell of cause.

In the issue with the woman that was caught with adultery, all party involved agreed that she was caught in sin, but he said he who has no sin let him cast the first stone..... And if you ready till the end ,I think I read something like " your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more"

This story can not be a replica of that in any way should not be brought in at all. Any one who can not repent has condemned and judged himself. There is enough room for repentance for him that is ready to change, not for you to remain in sin and expect grace to abound.......God Forbid.

datChelseaBoy: [b]I love this Pope so much because of the way he thinks, though I'm not a Catholic. He has this humility and wisdom that makes him stand out among other world leaders and former Popes. That was why he was able to attract a world record crowd of over three million in Brazil last Sunday. I support what he said. Though he clearly disapproves of homosexuality in its entirety, he believes that homosexuals who are truly repentant and remorseful should be allowed to seek the face of God in the Church. Even Jesus himself forgave an adultress and a condemned robber during his lifetime. The Church (and the society at large) should not reject or condemn such people instead it should welcome them with open arms and show them love and kindness. Afterall they were not the ones that chose to be gay, they were born into it.


Once again let me repeat, for the sake of those who find it difficult to understand even the simplest of things and those who like to make mountains out of anthills, the POPE DOES NOT SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE OR HOMOSEXUALITY. ALL HE IS SAYING IS THAT THE SOCIETY SHOULD NOT REJECT THEM. HE IS SAYING THAT THEY SHOULD BE INTEGRATED INTO THE SOCIETY AND OFFERED HELP [/b]

abouzaid: please, what is the official teaching of the catholic church concerning gay activities? Is there any church in the world that oppose gay rights as much as the catholic church? The churches that officially accept gay rights, are they not protestants? The pope said and i quote "to have the tendency is not the problem... If you have the tendency but have goodwill and seek the face of God, who am i to condemn them? The church and society should accept and help them.but the problem is the lobby, when u have the tendency and lobby it (as a right), that is where the problem is" those were his exact words so how is that against the teachings of christ? Did christ condemn any sinner during his time on earth? Did he not eat and drank with them while the holier than thou jews condemn them? I have used myself as an example and yet no one have been able to give the answers i seek showing that within us, we know the truths but prefer to be blinded by our hatred.

home girl: i am a catholic and i must tell you the pope has brought shame on majority of us catholics. even in my church on sunday our preached told us to refrain from sin. so how can pope of all people encourage gay. this is so so bad.

Dagoma: He mean that powerful people under the Church do practice it and he can't oppose them... just my thought.

monex: first people are not born gay. it is your environment/experiences that made you gay.
second: even when a hitherto gay person gives his/her life to Christ, the homo-sexual tendencies do not automatically disappear. it is a life-long war against it. you will pray against it and all that. You will fight it and will never lobby for it. accepting urself as one with gay tendencies and not a gay person and realising that you need prayer and discipline.


so it is possible to be a born-again xtian and have gay tendencies. the sin is in giving in to those tendencies. the Pope condemned the sin and the lobbying but did not condemn the tendency.

even for heterosexuals, we fight a life-long war against our tendency to lust. even marriage (heterosexual - homosexual union is not marriage) requires as much discipline as celibacy.

livebullet:

y waste ur intellect on dat dunce... doz r d kind of catholics who fall prey to protestant apologetics.. he is defficient of knowledge . his statement with regards to the current media misinterpretation speaks it all...he's a hollowed brain!

monex:

the Pope and the church teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

do u persecute someone for having the tendency to rape or commit adultery/fornication. No. You persecute him for giving in to his tendency to fornicate/lust/rape.

pet_saint:

Nice justification there. I presume you are a catholic. we all are waiting for the day when a pro gay pope will be elected, at least that pope can forgive their sins and they will become full brothers able to take the sacrament. we await the man of lawlessness and the beast that will give him power

Ubenedictus: i'm very sure u sin from time to time and am also sure that if you sincerely confess them God will forgive you. So why can't or shouldn't repentant gays be admitted to d sacraments?

elampiro:

[b]My brother you are correct.

The Pope's statement is like saying ''don't preach against sin'', and to consider the seriousness of the topic ''homosexuality' makes his comment too bad. If you read the way people are reacting here, you will notice that there is a shift in paradigm already. People are already more tolerant of the homosexualism or gayism. I won't be surprised if the senators takes a U turn now and say people should learn to tolerate homosexuality and also learn to integrate gays and lesbians into the society. The western world are legalizing gay marriages under the excuse that they are being discriminated. Christianity is suppose to be God's voice in the world, we are meant to be the light of the world, hence there should not be compromising of our Christian/Catholic beliefs.

In 2005 Pope Benedict signed a document stating clearly that people with homosexual tendencies should not be admitted into the priesthood. Pope John Paul II closed a seminary school because of reports of inappropriate behavior and pornography materials find. Now Pope Francis is tainting these beautiful hard work of his predecessors by indirectly condoning homosexuality.

This is not the first time Pope Francis has made controversial statements. In 25 years reign of Pope John Paul II we never for once have to come out to defend our Pope. Why does Pope Francis give room for his comments to be re-interpreted or misinterpreted as some people claim? Is he incompetent? This is about the forth time, the others were thrashed in some Catholic forum. I wonder what his aims are. Hope we won't see a time of division in the church where only a tiny remnant will remain true Catholic? It looks like some Catholic prophecies are about to be fulfilled. [/b]

oiseworld:

Your father the head of the catholic church is a gay, and you are here calling you mom and hallowed brain.
If the church can not stand for the truth then who will. The would looks up to the church for leadership and see what the pope had to offer. Haven't former popes condemed the act, yet it grew the more, what is wrong for this one to do same.

YOUR FAMILY...!!!

shumax: this is a long read but for all those who are interested, it presents the real scenero of what made the pope made such a statement and what it really means
The press is buzzing right now with claims that Pope Francis has taken a sharply different line than his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, on the subject of homosexuality.
Some are suggesting that the new pope has announced that "gay is okay."
What did Pope Francis really say, and how unusual is it?
Here are 7 things to know and share . . .

1) Where did Pope Francis make these remarks?
He made them during an 80-minute interview with reporters aboard the plane returning from World Youth Day in Brazil.

2) What was he asked that led to the remarks?
We may not know exactly what the question was until a transcript is released, but apparently, he was asked about the reputed "gay lobby" at the Vatican.
More info on that here.

3) What exactly did he say?
According to the best current accounts, he said:
There's a lot of talk about the gay lobby, but I've never seen it on the Vatican ID card.
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 goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized. The tendency [i.e., same-sex attraction] is not the problem ... they're our brothers.

4) What does this mean?
The first part of the statement seems to downplay the who "gay lobby" issue. He's not denying that there is one there, but he's suggesting that the talk is somewhat overblown.
He then explains his approach to dealing with gay people: He distinguishes between their "being gay" and "being part of a lobby."
What he means by "being gay" is something he further unpacks.
In ordinary parlance, "being gay" can mean anything from having same-sex attraction to leading an active "gay lifestyle" to endorsing and advocating a pro-homosexual ideology.
The last of these would be functioning as a member of a lobby, and he indicates that this is not what he is talking about.
He then describes those he is talking about as people who "accept the Lord and have goodwill."
He then seems to further clarify who he is talking about by saying that "The tendency [i.e., same-sex attraction] is not the problem ... they're our brothers."
Taking his statements together, what emerges is a portrait of individuals who have same-sex attraction but who nevertheless accept the Lord and have goodwill, as opposed to working to advance a pro-homosexual ideology.
This would definitely include people with same-sex attraction who strive to live chastely (even if they sometimes fail).
It also, possibly, could include individuals who are not living chastely but who are not actively lobbying a homosexual agenda. It would be nice if he'd said a little more to clarify the point further.

5) What does he say about people in this category?
He says that he does not think he is in a position to judge them and that they should not be marginalized.
He also says that the mere tendency (same-sex attraction) "is not the problem," and that "they're our brothers."

6) How new is this?
Not very.
Disclaiming a right to "judge" others is something that goes back to Jesus. It does not mean a failure to recognize the moral character of others' actions, however.
One can form a moral appraisal that what someone else is doing is wrong (Jesus obviously does not forbid that) without having or showing malice toward them.
The statement that they should not be marginalized is similarly in keeping with the Holy See's approach to the subject, as 1992 Vatican document On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.
The statement that same-sex attraction "is not the problem," when understood correctly, is also nothing new. "The problem," as Pope Francis seems to here be understanding it, is going beyond merely having a sinful tendency--a temptation to which one is subject.
Obviously, temptations are problem, but if we resist temptation we do not sin. "The problem," on this understanding, is giving into the temptation and sinning or--worse--building an ideology around the sin and trying to advocate the sin.
Finally, the statement that "they're our brothers" is also no novelty. Christians, like everyone, have struggled with every sort of temptation all through history.
Same-sex attraction is just one temptation among numerous others, and the fact that a person suffers from this temptation no more deprives him of the status of being a brother in Christ than any other temptation does.


Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-what-pope-francis-said-about-gays#ixzz2aUx6DLdG

Pipsland78: ...that he does not have the guts to stand for the truth.

abouzaid: It's interesting on how the western media never reports gay supporting churches in bad light but always exaggerates anything negative that can be linked to catholic ministers. The truth is that the west supports gays and abortion and the more some ppl tries to drag the catholic church into this mud, the more the agenda of the western media is succeeding. It's only a question of time before western governments start making acceptance of gay rights as a condition for receiving economic aid, then we will not only see what we did to ourselves out of blind hatred but we will also know which churches will accept gay rights. I have no doubt that it's the same churches that accepted it in the west that will accept it here.Time will tell.

shumax:
Yes i am a catholic and proud of it, I am also praying that the day when a pro gay pope will be elected will never come; but even at that Gay people have never been stoped from recieving the sacraments if they lead chaste lives, the catholic church has always said having homosexual tendencies is not a sin, it is a temptation and we all face temptation, but the sin is in given in to the homosexual act. Dominus vosbiscum

pet_saint:

Nice justification there. I presume you are a catholic. we all are waiting for the day when a pro gay pope will be elected, at least that pope can forgive their sins and they will become full brothers able to take the sacrament. we await the man of lawlessness and the beast that will give him power

home girl: i am a catholic and i must tell you the pope has brought shame on majority of us catholics. even in my church on sunday our preached told us to refrain from sin. so how can pope of all people encourage gay. this is so so bad.

edwardwin: To all you pro-gays and anti-gays, and all those sitting
on the fence in the matter, I have news for you: Pope
Francis yesterday did not - tacitly or otherwise -
approve of homosexuality.
His words, as quoted by BBC News, goeth thus: 'If a
person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who
am I to judge them?' Mind you, he was speaking of the
person, not of the act, and he was also declaring that in
the spirit of Matthew 7:1 - 'Judge not so that ye will not
be judged' - and John 8:7 - 'If any of you is without sin,
let him cast the first stone'.
Now, Il Papa's position is no different from what the
Catholic Church had declared earlier in its Cathecism -
released in the 90s - to be the Church's official position:
homosexual acts are intrinsically evil, but the person
who has a homosexual inclination is not evil, but rather
a child of God. The act should be condemned but the
person should be treated with love and respect.
So, what is the implication of the Pope's comment?
Simply this: Papa Francesco has not said anything new.
Homosexuality is no more accepted in the Catholic
Church post-comment than it was before he spoke. The
Church is still as vehemently against homosexuality as
it was before Francesco.
If some pro-gays were smart, they would see that
nothing has really changed and that their task is still as
uphill as before. By distinguishing between the person
and the act, and condemning the latter as sinful, the
Church ensures that those people with homosexual
inclinations cannot express the fulness of their sexuality
by indulging in the said acts. It means that the best way
for homosexuals to remain sinless is to be celibate all
their lives.
If some gay bashers were smart too, they would see
that Papa Francesco has done them a great service
which they sometimes fail to do to themselves. By
making a subtle distinction between the person and the
act, he preserves the attractiveness - if any - of their
position. Many more will listen to them now if they
preach this mantra - hate the act, but love the person -
than if they just condemn everything, throwing away the
baby with the bath water.
Buon pomeriggio a tutti

kokoye: He means he is not God.

Who are we to judge when we are not God?

Instead of judging, pray for them.

my opinion sha.

What would Jesus do?