The message of Pope Francis to a gay man
In the middle of the historic moment that the Chilean church is living, where 31 bishops made their position available after meeting with Pope Francisco to discuss the scandals of sexual abuse within the clergy, Juan Carlos Cruz, one of the victims of the former parish priest Fernando Karadima revealed the conversation he had with the Supreme Pontiff during his meetings in the Vatican.
In an act of repentance, the religious invited him a week to Santa Marta, his residence, and asked for forgiveness. Juan Carlos revealed to El País that he is "very excited and confident" in the turn that the Pope gave. In the instance, they touched on topics such as Cruz's own homosexuality and the Supreme Pontiff explained that "God wants it that way". "He told me, 'Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and he loves you like this and I do not care. The Pope loves you like that you have to be happy with who you are'" Cruz pointed.
In general, they had an intimate conversation, from the life of Cruz, the episode of the abuses, the inaction of the bishops and how they tried to "make him feel guilty". International media such as The Guardian and The Washington Post have published the fact in their respective platforms, surprised by the empathy shown by Francisco, stressing the acclamation of the LGBT + community.
Church teachings ask that gays and lesbians be respected and loved, but consider homosexual activity as "intrinsically disrupted." However, Francisco has sought to make the Church a more welcoming place for gays, and one of his most famous comments was made in 2013: "Who am I to judge?" The pontiff has also spoken of his own ministry to gay and transgender people, insisting that they are children of God, loved by God and worthy of the accompaniment of the Church.
For the time being, the Vatican's main spokesman, Greg Burke, has not said anything about the sayings of one of Karadima's victims maintaining its policy of not commenting on the Pope's private conversations. Last Friday, all the bishops in Chile offered their resignation to Pope Francis after a three-day emergency summit at the Vatican to discuss the sexual abuse scandal in Chile.