Pope Francis Statements on Homosexuality

 

Easter Present for the Gay African, the Gay Ugandan.

We Kuchus are like the very average African. We believe. Many of us are believers, in spite of being gay, gay in Africa.

It is the religious organisations, religious people in Africa who are predictably violently, openly homophobic in Africa.  The impression left on the average African is that the kuchu is a manifestation of the most evil human being, a demon and Satan descended on earth; in our villages, our towns, our neighbourhoods. Scriptures are quoted: everyone seems to be an expert on what scriptures state on homosexuality, in  Bible or Quran.

To learn that the Catholic Church actually doesn’t have [at the moment, far as I know] an officially hostile position towards LGBTQ human beings is surprising, to the average Ugandan, the average African.

To know that the current Pope, Pope Francis has actually taken this to heart and embraced us, queer human beings, is mind blowing.
Below is a list of statements from Pope Francis, Pontiff of the Catholic Church. Statements that expose a genuine ‘love and compassion’ from my humble point of view. They have been progressive, over the years, and cumulative. Apparently no other pope has been this embracing of the gay human being; this assertive of our right to life, freedom, dignity, as fellow human beings.

They are listed below, an Easter present to the Queer Catholic in Africa and in Uganda. To all kuchus in Africa. Some love to you, from an unexpected corner.

 

[Pic of Pope Francis]

2013 Declaration 

Pope Francis’ famous 2013 declaration, “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him?”

5^th May 2022 Letter to ‘Outreach Faith’, Catholic Ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. 

Outreach: What would you say is the most important thing for LGBT people to know about God?

Pope Francis: God is Father and he does not disown any of his children. And “the style” of God is “closeness, mercy and tenderness.” Along this path you will find God.

Outreach: What would you like LGBT people to know about the church?

Pope Francis: I would like for them to read the book of the Acts of the Apostles. There they will find the image of the living church.

Outreach: What do you say to an LGBT Catholic who has experienced rejection from the church?

Pope Francis: I would have them recognize it not as “the rejection of the church,” but instead of “people in the church.” The church is a mother and calls together all her children. Take for example the parable of those invited to the feast: “the just, the sinners, the rich and the poor, etc.” [Matthew 22:1-15; Luke 14:15-24]. A “selective” church, one of “pure blood,” is not Holy Mother Church, but rather a sect.

AP Interview, Another link to same interview.

First time a Pope has applied himself so to criminalisation of LGBTIQ

“Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.”

““Being homosexual isn’t a crime,””

“acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against LGBTQ people” “  attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. “These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.””

“Declaring such laws “unjust,” Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said.”

“Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gay people must be welcomed and respected, and should not be marginalized or discriminated against”

““We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,””

“said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality. Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are sinful, or “intrinsically disordered,” but that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect.”

““It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,””

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

 

““It’s not a crime, it’s a human condition.””

Date Feb 5, 2023. Trip to Congo, South Sudan. [BBC Link] 

“Pope Francis said that God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction”

“what the pope would say to families in Congo and South Sudan who reject their children because they are gay, Pope Francis responded that the catechism teaches that people with same-sex attraction should not be marginalized. “People with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them,”

““To condemn someone like this is a sin. Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice,””

“return flight from Brazil in 2013: “If a person with homosexual tendencies is a believer, seeks God, who am I to judge him? This is what I said on that trip.””

“in-flight press conference returning from Ireland in 2018 he said that parents should not kick out children with this orientation out of their homes.”

Anglican counterpart, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields,

Official Catholic Church position;
“According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, people with homosexual tendencies should be treated with respect, and unjust discrimination against them should be avoided, while “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.””

 “Pope Francis repeated his view that the Catholic Church cannot permit sacramental marriage of same sex couples.”

“he supported so-called civil union legislation, and”

“stressed that laws banning homosexuality were "a problem that cannot be ignored".”

~~~

From Rome with Love, indeed. 

Have a good Easter season.

 

gug

Uganda Catholic Church Playing Mute, Deaf, Dumb; A Pope Pius Moment

 

Uganda Catholic Church’s Pope Pius XII Moment

I love Uganda. Well, sort of.
They are my people; much sweeter because they reject me, a gay Ugandan. Kuchu. One of our national faults is a pride and conviction that we are unique, just because we are Ugandan. The world outside dares object? So what? [As Speaker Annet Among so eloquently stated], We believe we are blazing our own historical path, even when we are stumbling around repeating historical mistakes.

Take our collective, (characteristically Ugandan) homophobic madness.
Historically it is not new, nor unique. After all, the Sodomy laws currently on our statute books were inherited from the old British Empire, more than 60 years ago. And more than 90 years ago, the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, Herr Hitler, had a vision. Eliminating the weak, to build a nation of the Strong. The weak were defined as ‘evil’ Jews, ‘defective’ mentally challenged individuals, ‘deviant’ homosexuals and political enemies, of course.
Hitler’s German mandated an open labelling of the weak in public; the yellow star for the Jew, the pink triangle for the homosexual. Thus openly identified, they were rounded up, taken to ‘concentration camps’, and killed, in the ‘Final Solution’.

What did the Church do, during that time of horror?
What brave words and actions of Christian love and compassion and charity were shown by the Church of Christ?

Pope Pius XII was the Pope during Nazi times. The Pope of the Era.

And, it was what Pope Pius did, or did not do, that has coloured his legacy.
What did the Pontiff know? What did he do about what he knew?
His deafening silence was certainly noted, after the madness of the Holocaust. Did he know that human beings were being carted off to death in huge camps? Was he silent because he feared for himself and the Catholic faithful? Or was he actually complicit, preferring not to know? Was he a secret Nazi sympathiser, sympathetic to what they were doing? [after all, the world at that time was definitely homophobic and anti-Semitic.] It’s quite natural to assume that the Pope, and the ‘Church Fathers’ could have been secretly sympathetic, in spite of the Church’s official message of love.

This is controversial. A controversy that has not yet been settled. Apparently, the Catholic Church, in typical Catholic Church fashion, had whitewashed Pope Pius XII.   But, questions were asked, and the opening of the archives has led to more questions.

“The long-awaited opening of Pope Pius XII’s wartime records lasted only a week before the coronavirus outbreak shut down the Vatican archives. But that was long enough for documents to emerge that reflect badly on the pontiff accused of silence during the Holocaust, according to published reports.” 

Fast forward to today. 2023.
An anti-homosexual bill in the Parliament of Uganda. A Homosexuals Death Bill. 
Not the first time, that was 2013-14. This is the second time. The first time, the bill was introduced with the Death clause, which was removed during debate. This time the ‘life imprisonment’ and death clauses were ‘enhancements’ during the Parliamentary marathon debate session on 21^st March 2023.

Pope Francis has been quite vocal. He is asserts that, according to Catholic teaching [and he is the Pope], homosexuality is not a sin. But not a crime. And those who seek to make it a crime are mistaken, etc. 

Pope Francis is in Vatican, Rome. He is a frail old gentleman, 86. But, he is the Pope, and quite active.

And, the Catholic Church in Uganda? Believe it or not, they are yet to ‘study the bill’!!! 

Is this the Uganda Catholic Church’s Pope Pius moment?

The parallels between Pope Pius and the Catholic Fathers in Uganda are nothing less than striking. History literally repeating itself. Smacks of hypocrisy.

The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda met on 15^th February 2023.
Its my humble speculation that it was that meeting that kicked off the official process. Uganda’s major religious leaders had met and determined that enough was enough. Uganda had to have an anti-homosexual bill, to solve all its gay problems. Details were reported here.

Curiously, there was no mention of a representative from Uganda’s Catholic Church; because the Catholic Church is not represented?
The Protestants, the Catholics, the ‘balokole’  and Moslems were all represented. Catholicism is the most populous religious denomination in Uganda. But, on the agenda was homosexuality. Didn’t get an invitation?

On 29^th March, 2023 the Archbishop of the Diocese of Kampala came up with a statement. Apparently [curiously], the Catholic Fathers had not yet met to see the bill, and give their consensus statement. 

““Regarding what has come out of Parliament once we have the entire Bill, as Fathers of the Catholic Church we will come together to discuss that Bill and give the position of the Catholic Church in Uganda.””

Curious, curious, curious.
Is Rubaga (seat of the Catholic Church in Uganda) as far away as Rome is? Is bureaucracy in the Catholic Church in Uganda that cumbersome? That slow?
In the last couple of months, for an issue that has literally excited the attention in Uganda and beyond, formal and informal, were the Catholic Fathers totally absent from the country?

Why is the Catholic Church in Uganda playing Blind, Deaf and Dumb? I continue to ask!

Or is it because they have a Pope Francis problem? 
Hey, I am an interested but outside observer. I am allowed to ask, no?

I am quite, quite curious about what the contents and product of their markedly wise deliberations will be. They will be portent and powerful, full of Fatherly words of wisdom and compassion and love.
Of course, by then, [and I assume by intention], the debate will be done, the advice useless. The bill is passed, awaiting the President’s signature. It will get the signature. It will become law.

The perfect Pope Pius moment for the Catholic Church in Uganda.

Are we to assume that the mighty Catholic Church has been caught up and is helpless? Or, are they complicit, in silence as well as in actuality? Back seat fans?
We know major actors are Catholic faithful; Honourable Reverend Father Charles Onen who moved the bill’s first motion and House Speaker Among the bill’s Chief Whip. And of course, Speaker Among is rallying troops now, for the Great Anti-Homosexual War battles.

Frankly, in my biased view, the statement from Archbishop Ssemogerere, of the Kampala Diocese was explicit inits starkness.     The Church has taken out the Pope Pius playbook, is reading and acting on it.
Instead of asking whether the Catholic Church in Uganda is having a Pope Pius moment, I am convinced that they are, and am speculating at what kind of treatment history will have of the Uganda’s Catholic Fathers of this moment.

 

gug

Uganda Homosexuals Recruiting your Children

 

The many myths that Ugandans believe about Gay Ugandans.

‘We are coming for your children?’ Really?

Ugandans generally believe that gay Ugandans lust for other Ugandans’ children.
Stating it that baldly burns the sting. It is usually innuendo and nasty asides. We are ‘recruiting’. Recruiting who, and for what? Are we building up harems of young people? How can we afford it? Here is one influencer’s take, which was stated very boldly in the Monitor paper. 

“We have heard loads of evidence from young people, some of school-going age, sharing their experiences. The recruitment patterns are not very clear as these groups are highly organized, well-funded and connected to key people through whom they access their unsuspecting targets.”

Pure, undiluted nonsense. But this is what most Ugandans believe. The writer is a “commentator on peace, religion and society” in the Monitor.
From my experience, kuchu community in Uganda is so fractious and disorganised the only thing we can organise successfully is an orgy. ‘Too disorganised to organise an orgy in a brothel’. Crude, but spot on.

Where do they get this stuff?

Andrew Mwenda commented bluntly 

“If the problem is pedophilia (sex with underage kids or minors), which is what most Ugandans I listen to seem to insinuate, we have the law against defilement.”

It is insinuated, winked and nudged and hinted at. When kuchus who are out state bluntly that Ugandans are conflating (mixing) pedophilia with homosexuality, they say, oh no, no.
Paedophiles can be heterosexual or homosexual (of course). But, Ugandan group think is that all homosexuals are by definition paedophiles. And actively recruiting!

Ugandans understand the term ‘defilement’- sex with under-age girls.
Most would rubbish a statement that ‘All heterosexuals are paedophiles’. But, they entertain, indeed believe and promote that ‘All homosexuals are paedophiles’.

Here is the same Ugandan style rationalisation from no other than Archbishop Paul Ssemogerere of the Archdiocese of Kampala, of the Catholic Church in Uganda. 

““I think when you are homosexual and you are enticing this young person, you do the act and using all the money you have and you make him sick, the poor person goes to the hospital because of what you have done, that is a crime then. It is child abuse.””

So, if it is child abuse, aren’t their laws against child abuse in Uganda? Why are you targeting (ahem, okay; supporting the targeting) of God’s Holy Homosexuals?
And underlining Mwenda’s point: the sleight of hand insinuation, the slippery slope argument ending in homosexuals on death row. Pope Francis’ point of the difference between ‘crime’ and ‘sin’ is even more stack. [In the same article, The Archbishop shamelessly tries to parse the Pontiffs statement. Amazing]

Dearest Ugandans, in as much as not all heterosexuals adults are ‘defilers’, to think that we homosexuals are all ‘defilers’ and coming for your children is a serious issue with your thinking.
Yes, your pastors and religious leaders seem bent on spreading that lie, but you should have the sense to understand that it is simply untrue.
No, we gay Ugandans are NOT coming for your children!

 

gug