Pope Criticizes Gay And Trans People, Apologizes For Sex Abuse, During Historic Visit

From: NewNowNext

 Pope Francis wrapped up his first American tour this weekend in Philadelphia, as the city hosts the church-sponsored World Meeting of Families.

In the run up to the papal visit, the focus was on if (and how) the LGBT community would be a part of this monumental occasion.

The short answer is: we weren’t.

 None of Francis’ many stops nor the related public events in New York, Philadelphia and DC, indicated he was trying to extend an olive branch. (A seminar on gender identity at Philadelphia’s St. John’s Cathedral was unceremoniously canceled.)

If not for President Obama inviting LGBT people to the Pope’s White House visit, we may have been completely invisible.

Invisible, but not ignored.

In his address to Congress, Francis spoke of his “concern for the family,” language often used by the Vatican to denigrate same-sex couples and their children.

His speech at the United Nations Headquarters the following day was less vague.

In it, Francis criticized Western society for providing young people “with so many options that they are dissuaded from starting a family.”

Few protesters gathered outside the UN as, inside, he made references to the “misuse of creation,” and linked the struggle against climate change and discrimination with “recogniz[ing] a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman.”

Earlier this year, the Pope calling on the faithful “to value one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity” because “it is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual differences.”

He did take a moment this weekend to apologize for the decades-long issue of child molestation that has plagued Catholic clergy. Sunday, he met with five victims of childhood sexual abuse, some by family members and other by priests.

Francis told them those in the church who were responsible would face be held accountable, and declared he’d create a new Vatican tribunal to prosecute those who covered for pedophile priests.

“I am profoundly sorry that your innocence was violated by those who you trusted,” said the Pope.

“For those who were abused by a member of the clergy, I am deeply sorry for the times when you or your family spoke out, to report the abuse, but you were not heard or believed. Please know that the Holy Father hears you and believes you.”