UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal
Many Catholics are a pretty demoralized bunch these days. And who can blame them?
They’ve endured horrific revelations of the child sexual abuse scandal, a church bent more on condemnation than compassion and a male-dominated hierarchy that seems fixated on women’s reproductive rights without giving them a voice in governance.
But suddenly, just five months into his papacy, Pope Francis has offered a refreshing new approach to Catholicism with his extraordinary and candid comments Tuesday, particularly regarding gays in the church.
“Who am I to judge them if they’re seeking the Lord in good faith?” he asked an astonished planeload of reporters returning with him to Rome from Brazil following his first — and wildly successful — foreign trip.
While not a change in church teaching, it is a dramatic shift in tone for the Roman Catholic Church that has condemned homosexuality as a moral evil and discouraged gay men from becoming priests.
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