The Rainbow Pope?

Jul 30

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Pope FrancisRecently elected Pope Francis has surprised many observers by saying he has no problem with gay men serving as clergy.  “Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?” said Francis.  “You can’t marginalize these people.”  The comment opens up a number of issues I find interesting regarding sin, how to judge a man and whether people should judge at all.

Take down those rainbow banners

First of all, saying that gay men can serve as clergy is not the same as saying that gay love or making love with someone of the same sex is okay.  Catholic clergy abstain from sex, so in that sense the pope is saying it’s alright to have homosexual thoughts as long as you don’t commit homosexual acts.  Some are cheering this promotion of homosexual love into the same caliber of sins as using drugs, gambling or infidelity as some great accomplishment.  It’s not.  The church should cast aside its ancient bans on homosexuality just as it’s long since thrown away a ban on illegitimate children in the church, the condoning of slavery, violence against women and other biblical pronouncements inconsistent with a message of acceptance and love.

Only god can judge me now

The other interesting part of this whole episode is what it says about judgment in the church.  A silver lining (if you want to call it that) in Pope Francis’ announcement is his implicit judgement of people based on their actions rather than their character or thoughts.  Granted these actions shouldn’t be judged negatively at all, but I guess it’s a tiny bit of progress to hear the church not condemning gay people outright for being born.  The Pope’s question of “Who am I to judge” is also interesting.  I’ve always thought of the Catholic church as very judgmental, but I’ve also heard a lot about “only god can judge.”  Is the Pope’s statement consistent with this non-human judging sentiment, and if so, how can he criticize drug traffickers or Bangladeshi factory owners?  I’m all for judgment based on actions, so maybe some of my Christian brothers and sisters can help me understand this.

In summary then, the Pope elevated homosexuality from a disorder to a sin.  I think that’s hardly something to celebrate when you’re condemning the love of millions of people.  Until the Pope accepts gay people by accepting their actions (i.e. being gay), we should all harshly criticize the archaic views of the church in this area.

Posted on July 30, 2013, in Culture and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.

  1. Coray | August 24, 2013 at 9:55 am

    I wish I knew why non-Catholics feel unabashed to advise the Church to “cast aside” its historical beliefs. At the very least there is a conflict of interest. As an atheist would you also advise it to relinquish its “ancient ban” on nontheism? Would you feel comfortable giving reflections on the role of the hijab in sha’aria to prominent sheikhs in the umma?

    It is a little misleading to characterize F1 as saying we should judge by actions but not by the character of thoughts. Moral judgment should be entirely reserved, whether about actions or thoughts, and for epistemological reasons. Nevertheless the general advice of the Church on one’s own thoughts is an extension of Jewish ideas about purifying action into ideas about purifying thought: even to look with lust in one’s mind is behaviour that should be fought and fought with the help of others. Francis is merely saying that sin and the tendency to sin are not a disqualification from holding ecclesial office. And this is not new, despite the media’s fixation on one aspect of a long interview he gave.