Pope Frqncis Says Christians Must Apologize to Gay People and "Mistreated Women" for Marginalizing them, How About Women Priests?

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-christians-must-apologize-gay-people-marginalizing-them, English
https://evangelizadorasdelosapostoles.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/el-papa-francisco-dice-los-cristianos-deben-pedir-disculpas-a-la-gente-gay-y-mujeres-maltratadas-marginadas-como-las-mujeres-sacerdotes/  Spanish
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/world/europe/pope-francis-gays-christians-apology.html?_r=1

Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard his flight from Yerevan, Armenia, to Rome June 26. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Bridget Mary's Response: I am deeply touched that Pope Francis asked forgiveness of gay people and of "mistreated women." Pope Francis'  words reflect  the compassionate heart of Christ for those on the margins whom the institutional church has hurt through centuries of its toxic teachings and punitive policies.  

May this apology lead to a change in teachings, policies and actions that promote a healthier church that proclaims the spiritual equality of all the baptized.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church needs a major revision. If we are to live Christ's love as Catholics we cannot teach that anyone is objectively disordered! Each person is the beloved of God called to reflect the loving face of the divine in our world. No exceptions!

I pray that Pope Francis will begin a dialogue with our international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement that will lead to the dropping of excommunication and punishments against our members and supporters. We are following our consciences and leading the church into living Gospel equality now. As Francis initiates the commission to study women deacons, he could also begin a healing process of the wounds of sexism with a dialogue with women priests. 

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org, sofiabmm@aol.com.

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-christians-must-apologize-gay-people-marginalizing-them

"In a press conference Sunday on the flight back to Rome after his weekend trip to Armenia, the pontiff said bluntly: "The church must say it's sorry for not having comported itself well many times, many times."

"I believe that the church not only must say it's sorry ... to this person that is gay that it has offended," said the pope. "But it must say it's sorry to the poor, also, to mistreated women, to children forced to work."

"When I say the church: Christians," Francis clarified. "The church is holy. We are the sinners."

The pope was responding to a question about remarks German Cardinal Reinhard Marx made last week that the Catholic church should apologize to the gay community for marginalizing them.

"I will repeat the same thing I said on the first trip," Francis said today, referencing the press conference he held on a return flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013. "I will also repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that [gay people] should not be discriminated against, that they have to be respected, pastorally accompanied."

"The matter is a person that has that condition [and] that has good will because they search for God," said the pontiff."

"Who are we to judge them?" he asked, reframing his famous phrase from 2013 into the plural. "We must accompany well -- what the Catechism says. The Catechism is clear."

Francis also said that the culture in which he grew up in Argentina many years ago was a "closed Catholic culture," giving the example of how it was looked down upon to even enter the home of a couple who had been married civilly after one of the partners had previously divorced.

"The culture has changed -- and thank God!" the pope exclaimed. "Christians; we must say we are sorry many times; not only on this."