Pope Francis: who am I to judge?

Pope Francis I’s statement about homosexual clergymen remains extraordinary; no matter how often one reads it.

‘If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?’

He also said:

‘The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalised because of this (orientation) but that they must be integrated into society…’

And there was more, perhaps a little less extraordinary in tone and content:

‘The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.’

I’m not a Roman Catholic, so I cannot appreciate the full emotive force of those words. But, beyond the obvious historical point, what strikes me most is the simplicity with the Pope expresses himself. His humility is quite breathtaking.