Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of clerical sexual abuse, spoke privately with Pope Francis early this month about the abuse he suffered at the hands of a Catholic priest in Chile. When Cruz mentioned his sexual orientation, the pope told the gay man: “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.”
The remarks are the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Neither is this the first time the pope has shown his acceptance of LGBT people. “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” he told the media in 2013.
Now 87, Fernando Karadima, the Chilean priest who molested Cruz, was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011. All of Chile’s 34 Catholic bishops offered the pope their resignation this month over their cover-up of the scandal.
Photo: AFP
照片︰法新社
(CNA, translated by Eddy Chang)
曾遭到神職人員性侵的受害者克魯茲,本月初和教宗方濟各私下會面,談到他在智利一名天主教神父狼爪下的遭遇。當這位男同志提及他的性向時,教宗則說:「你是同性戀也沒關係。天主如此造你,也愛如此的你,我並不在意。教宗愛這樣的你,你必須對自己感到滿意。」
身為羅馬天主教的領導人,教宗這番話堪稱是認可同性戀最明確的表態。這並不是他第一次表達對同志的接納,他在二○一三年對媒體說:「如果一名同性戀有意追隨天主、有良善的意願,我有什麼資格評斷他?」
性侵克魯茲的智利神父卡拉迪馬現年八十七歲,他在二○一一年被梵蒂岡判定有罪。智利三十四位主教全都因為掩飾這起性侵醜聞,本月已向教宗集體請辭。
(中央社)
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