What did Pope Francis mean when he said "who am I to judge" homosexuals?
score:8
Pope Francis means that those with same-sex attraction who refuse to act on their impulses for the sake of the Kingdom should not be judged. Those with heterosexual attraction often judge a h*m*sexual attracted person based on his or her feelings he/she cannot control, even if the person doesn't act on them. Pope Francis is saying that we shouldn't condemn same-sex attraction, as it is not something a person can control. I would go so far as to say that Pope Francis implicitly means that we should show mercy and compassion to those who, through weakness, fell into the trap of acting on h*m*sexual feelings.
What Pope Francis is NOT saying is that h*m*sexuality as in the lifestyle, and in particular sodomy, should be condoned. He's also not saying that h*m*sexual feelings are good; a person who has such feelings cannot sin for have such feelings, because they are out of his control, but the feelings are still a temptation and "disorder." People often get annoyed by the Church's use of "disordered," but most don't realize that, to the Church, a heterosexual sexual feeling aimed at someone who is not your spouse is disordered as well, but neither h*m*sexual attraction or adultuous feelings are a sin in themselves unless a person entertain them and act on them (through sodomy or adultery respectively).
Basically, Pope Francis has in mind the ancient distinction between the will and the passions/emotions: we have free will, but our passions or emotions (which we have in common with other animals) are not entirely up to our control, due to our fallen nature (this war between the reason and the passions over the will is called concupiscience). As such, Pope Francis distingishes between h*m*sexual actions (controlled by the will) and h*m*sexual feelings (controlled by the passions), and points out that h*m*sexual feelings alone cannot be a sin, period, and that a person who suffers from them cannot be blamed or thought of as "lesser" because he possesses the temptation: we all have our temptations.
Most importantly, we should pray that all who suffer from sexual temptations, whether they be hetersexual or h*m*sexual, emerge victoriously over their temptations in the Kingdom of God.
Christi pax.
More post
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter Day Saints view the seven churches in Revelation and interpret the ten days of tribulation in Revelation 2:10?
- 📝 Was David mainly upset about Uzzah's death?
- 📝 What evidence is there to support Deuteronomy being written during the reign of King Josiah?
- 📝 Who titled the poem: "The Dark Night of the Soul"?
- 📝 Primacy of Andrew in Eastern Orthodoxy
- 📝 What is the Catholic Church's answer to Nancy Pelosi's argument of a double standard between abortion and the death penalty?
- 📝 Does 'no more room in the Inn' mean spare room not big enough for a birth?
- 📝 Atheist Arguments
- 📝 How is the "spirituality of the church" consistent with theonomy?
- 📝 Who was the Blessed Virgin Mary's guardian angel?
- 📝 How does the Westminster Confession address the paradox of the Bible canon?
- 📝 How ambitious should a Christian be?
- 📝 Are there any passages in Early Christian literature that discuss angels and pagans?
- 📝 Was the immersion in water by the hand of others, a part of joining Christianity?
- 📝 Why is the Roman Catholic infant baptism called "christening"?
- 📝 What is the foundational motivation of Lenten practices?
- 📝 Is using medication derived from tissue of aborted fetuses compatible with Catholic teaching?
- 📝 Why do many old churches face east?
- 📝 Is there a standard version of the Bible?
- 📝 Did Jephthah sin at the moment when he sacrificed his daughter?
- 📝 Why is it important for people who believe in Trinity that Jesus is God?
- 📝 To the YEC, did God make a single male/female pair of each kind of animal?
- 📝 Did Christ open the Door of Hell after he preached the Gospel in the realm of the dead?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, is it a sin to marry your cousin?
- 📝 Do Mormons believe in the Virgin birth taught in the Bible? (LDS)
- 📝 Imaginary or legendary saints associated with Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the history of 'The United Church of God'?
- 📝 How do annihilationists understand Matthew 10:15?
- 📝 What did Christians write about Muhammad during his life?
- 📝 How does "being born a sinner" compare to "being born perfect" affect one's outlook on life and problem solving?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What did Pope Francis mean when he said "who am I to judge" h*m*sexuals?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean when he said ‘Go and sin no more’ if sinlessness is impossible?
- 📝 What exactly did Jesus mean when He said "I am coming soon" and similar phrases?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean when He said we must "eat His flesh and drink His blood"?
- 📝 What did God mean when He said 'lest they live forever'?
- 📝 According to Protestants following the Reformation, what did Jesus mean when he said "do this and you will live"?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean when He said “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”
- 📝 What did God mean when He said to Moses, "I have made thee a god to Pharaoh"?
- 📝 What did Papias mean when he wrote how Mark did not write "in order" about what Jesus said or did?
- 📝 What did Paul mean when he called Jesus the "firstborn from the dead"?
- 📝 What exactly did Pope Gregory the Great mean by "Universal Bishop?"
- 📝 Did Pope Francis overstep any official Catholic boundary when he criticized Trump?
- 📝 What did Paul mean when he wrote 1 Corinthians 14:22 in the context of 1 Corinthians 14:23-25?
- 📝 When the Pope says "We commend to the Lord the souls..." what does it mean exactly? It it a symbolic gesture, a prayer, something else?
- 📝 What does it mean when Archbishop Ganswein stated that Pope Benedict XVI expanded the Petrine Ministry?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean by his apparent racial taunt to the Canaanite woman in Matt 15 when he inferred that they were "dogs"?
- 📝 What did Thomas Merton mean by cartesian when it comes to modern christianity?
- 📝 What did Clement mean when he said: "Fasting is better than prayer, and charity than both"?
- 📝 What prophets did Messiah mean in Luke 16:16 when we see yet more prophets thereafter?
- 📝 What did Jesus mean by "this generation will certainly not pass away.." in Matthew 24:34?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law but did not abolish it?
- 📝 When did "tithing" come to mean "giving 10% of your gross income to the Church"?
- 📝 What do Catholics mean when they talk about the Real Presence in the Eucharist?
- 📝 What did Pilate mean by asking "What is truth?"
- 📝 When Jesus gave Peter his name (rock) what is the significance that he then said upon a ‘different’ kind of rock he would build his church?
- 📝 Why did the soldiers go backward and fall down when Jesus said "I am he" in John 18:6?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church mean when it calls humans co-creators with God?
- 📝 Why did the conclave elect Pope Stephen I, when he died prior to taking office?
- 📝 Why did Pope Francis say, "When we encounter the Cross, do we turn to Mary," rather than to Christ?
- 📝 What did "one baptism" in the Nicene Creed mean back then?