Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Guardian reports:
A survivor of clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him that God had made him gay and loved him, in arguably the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality to be uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic church.
Juan Carlos Cruz, who spoke privately with the pope two weeks ago about the abuse he suffered at the hands of one of Chile’s most notorious paedophiles, said the issue of his sexuality had arisen because some of the Latin American country’s bishops had sought to depict him as a pervert as they accused him of lying about the abuse.
“He told me, ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are,’” Cruz told Spanish newspaper El País.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
In 2013, Francis famously said, “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to judge?” when asked for his views on homosexuality, signaling a sea change in Catholic views on sexual orientation.
That year he also told an interviewer, “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” adding, “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: When God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ ”
His reported remarks based on Cruz’s account go further, however, by suggesting he believes people are created gay by God — a position likely to anger Catholic conservatives.
A Vatican spokesman says they don’t comment on the pope’s private conversations.
Something else that I will always remember about my hours of conversations with Pope Francis @Pontifex will be this: His phrase: Who am I to judge? I experienced it personally and I hope many feel that no one is excluded or should be excluded…ever! https://t.co/LhqMwmnNOa
— Juan Carlos Cruz Ch. (@jccruzchellew) May 20, 2018
Pope Francis tells gay man: “God made you like that and loves you like that” https://t.co/s2HPBmmhdf pic.twitter.com/nqPCTLP0Jc
— CNN (@CNN) May 21, 2018