2018-MAY: Private comments about homosexuality by Pope Francis

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2018-APR-27: Pope Francis met in the Vatican with three Chilean survivors of clerical sexual abuse:

One of the abuse survivors was Carlos Cruz. In private meeting with the Pope, he discussed his homosexual orientation and how it had brought him suffering during his life. At a subsequent interview of Cruz by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, he said that the pope had been told that he was a pervert. Cruz said that his past behavior did not reach the standard of St. Aloysium Gonzaga, but that he wasn't a bad person either. He said: "I try to not hurt anybody."

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) is a Roman Catholic saint who was born in Venice, died in Rome, and canonized on 1726 CE as a patron saint of Roman Catholic youth.

Cruz quoted the Pope as saying:

"Juan Carlos, it doesn't matter that you are gay. God made you that way and he loves you the way you are, and it doesn't matter to me. The pope loves you the way you are; you have to be happy with who you are."

Many Christians would probably be deeply offended by this comment. They disagree strongly about the cause(s) of homosexual and bisexual orientation.

• Psalm 139:13 does refers to God as having:

"... created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." (NIV)

• Similar expressions are seen in Job 31:15, Isaiah 44:2, and Jeremiah 1:5.

Some Christians interpret these passages as meaning that a person's sexual orientation is determined by God before birth, along with their gender, appearance, abilities, etc.

However, most religious conservatives disagree. Rather, they claim that a minority of individuals make a conscious choice to have a homosexual or bisexual orientation many years after birth, often at about the time of puberty.

Recent research has conclusively shown that a person's sexual orientation is determined before birth by epigentics. This term refers to a layer on top of a person's DNA that controls specific genes. Recently, an epigenetic/DNA test was developed that uses men's saliva. The test has been evaluated on identical gay males in which each pair of twins has a different sexual orientation. It correctly identified the twin with a homosexual orientation with an accuracy of 83%. This accuracy will probably increase in the future as the test is further refined. A person's epigenetic layer develops early in pregnancy and does not change before and after birth.

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References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Carol Glatz, "Abuse survivor says pope told him God loves him the way he is," National Cathoic Creporter, 2018-MAY-22, at: https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/abuse-survivor-says-pope-told-him-god-loves-him-way-he
2. "Saint Aloysius Gonzaga," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018, at: https://www.britannica.com/
3. Text of Psalms 139:13 in 26 Bible translation is at: http://biblehub.com/

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Original posting: 2018-MAY-24
Author: B.A. Robinson