Online Petition Thanks Pope Francis for His Gay-Positive Remarks

petition (1)An online petition at change.org has been established to thank Pope Francis for his gay-positive comments last week on his plane ride home from Brazil.

The text of the petition, which has been organized by Allen Rose, a gay Catholic man in Washington, DC,  reads:

“It is important to hear about God’s love for all people, and about the importance of the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Catholic church and in society from the Pope because religion has frequently been used to demonize gay people.

“Recently the Pope said, ‘If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?’  Thank you Pope Francis for saying this.  Catholics and non-catholics have needed to hear a Pope say this for a long time.

“Various people are beginning to beginning to clarify, recast and modify this simple statement that the Pope recently made during a news conference. Sometimes simple statements about God’s love explain more than long, detailed theological works, or highly nuanced explanations of Catholic doctrine. Also, by saying, “Who am I to judge?” the pope  is expressing the Catholic belief in the dignity of the human conscience, which often gets ignored in religious discussions about human sexuality.

“Pope Francis is the first pope to use the word gay.  Previous popes have used words and phrases that are more harsh and judgmental. This is an additional indication of how to express a loving and generous attitude towards LGBTQ people.

“Therefore, I hope you will join me in saying thank you to Pope Francis.

“Since the Pope doesn’t have a public email account, we will deliver this petition to the papal nuncio to the U.S., the Vatican’s ambassador, so that it can be forwarded to Pope Francis.”

You sign the petition by clicking here.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

2 replies
  1. Pamela Trainor
    Pamela Trainor says:

    My dad and his 4 siblings were products of an inter-religion marriage (1920). Throughout their Catholic school education each one of them raised their hand in Religion class and spoke out against the teachings that bi-religion marriages were WRONG.

    At the age of 86, both of my Catholic parents voted FOR gay marriage in Maryland.

    Thank you your words concerning gays seeking God. Sometimes the original leaders are sitting quietly in the benches right below you, for a whole lifetime.

    Reply

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