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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Pope asks Roman Catholics to apologise to gays

Pope Francis has asked the Roman Catholic
Church to apologise to gays for the way they are
being treated, saying they deserve to be
respected.
The pontiff said the Church had no right to judge
homosexuals and should not be discriminated
against.

The Pope, who spoke to reporters on his plane
on his way from Armenia, also demanded the
Church to seek forgiveness from other people it
had marginalised, including women, the poor,
and children forced into labour.

BBC reports that the Pope has been hailed by
many in the gay community for his positive
attitude towards homosexuals while some
conservative Catholics have criticised him for
making comments they described as ambiguous
about sexual morality.

Pope said, “I will repeat what the catechism of
the (Roman Catholic) Church says, that they
(homosexuals) should not be discriminated
against, that they should be respected,
accompanied pastorally.

“I think that the (Roman Catholic) Church not
only should apologise to a gay person whom it
offended but it must also apologise to the poor
as well, to the women who have been exploited,
to children who have been exploited by (being
forced to) work. It must apologise for having
blessed so many weapons.”

In 2013, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Roman
Catholic Church’s position that homosexual acts
were sinful, but homosexual orientation was
not.
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good
will, who am I to judge?” he had said.
Meanwhile the Anglican Communinion Church of
Nigeria and the Redeemed Christian Church of
God have condemned the Pope’s tacit support
for homosexuality, saying his call for apology
was unfounded.

The Anglican Bishop of Remo, Rt. Rev. Michael
Fape, said Pope’s call contradicted the Biblical
stand on homosexuality and urged that the act
should not be explained away in the guise of
human rights.
He said, “Homosexuality is a biblical issue and it
is abominable. It is one of the sins that God
clearly enjoins children of Israel not to indulge
in. So if anybody is into homosexuality, such a
person is doing what is ungodly, unbiblical and
what is against the mind of God.

“Pope as a Roman Catholic has a right to his
opinion. The fact that somebody is a Pope does
not make him God. God is the only one who is
infallible on this issue. He is not saying the
minds of those who are orthodox Christians and
that does not make his stand the God standard.
There is no word that one can use to describe it
in the guise of human rights. What is wrong is
wrong.”

“Whatever is good (as punishment) for an
adulterer, for a robber, a sorcerer, or a
murderer is good for a homosexual. They are all
in the same pedestal. God specifically says that a
homosexual should be removed from the camp
of those who are children of God. The
punishment for homosexuals as far as the
Anglican Church is concerned is having nothing
to do with them by means of fellowship. If they
repent, they should come back to the fellowship
and confess that they have erred.”

The Head of Media and Public Relations of
Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor
Segun Adegbiji, urged Christians to discard the
Pope’s comments, saying the position of God
should prevail whenever there were
disagreements on scriptural issues.

“The RCCG is on the side of the Bible. Whatever
the Bible wants the children of God to do is
what we do. Anything that is ungodly and
unscriptural, the RCCG will never support it. The
apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ said when
there is confrontational or conflict between
what somebody in power is saying and what the
Lord is saying, you go on the side of the Lord.
We are not on the side of any apology,” Adegbiji
said.

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