The Catholic Church has never been known as being the most progressive religious institution in the world, but don’t tell that to Pope Francis.
On a flight from Brazil to Italy yesterday, the newest Pope was asked via an in flight press conference about a Vatican monsignor who had been accused of having a same-sex relationship while living in Latin America.
How did the highest Catholic official respond? Well, he definitely didn’t do any smiting.
The Pope told the reporter that, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Pope Francis’ recent trip to Brazil did more to help give hope to religious liberals, as he stressed that the wealthy should work harder to reduce income inequality and said that the Catholic Church was “perhaps too cold, too caught up with itself, and perhaps a prisoner of its own rigid formulas.“
While this response surely won’t usher in a new golden era in Catholic study, it is a giant step forward for a religion that has continuously shunned the homosexual community. Sadly, however, words are just words. Until the Catholic Church begins to take action to reverse their dated ideology, progress will continue to remain out of reach.
