THE SALVATION ARMY - Clarification; Position on Homosexuality III

While Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI was an extreme opponent of gay rights – once describing homosexuality as a "defection of human nature" –  Pope Francis has seemingly reversed his earlier stance and expressed his tolerance towards homosexuality. During his recent visit to Brazil he said: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"

The Jesuit journal America was one of sixteen Jesuit magazines that simultaneously published an interview conducted by Father Spadaro on behalf of La Civiltà Cattolica. The editorial teams at each of the journals prepared questions and sent them to Father Spadaro, who then consolidated and organized them. 

Sept. 30. 2013.    To begin the interview, Spadoro bluntly asked, ‘Who is Jorge Mario Bergolio?‘ – Pope Francis’s name prior to his election as pope. ‘I am a sinner.’ the pope answered. ‘This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.’

After some time the Pope then moved to the concern of many of the church’s faithful, and the thousands who might consider an eventual return to practicing their faith. Only 18% of LGBT individuals regularly attend a worship service, the church needs to find a way to reach out, heal and build the relationship it has with the LGBT community.

…. “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality…. We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing….When it comes to social issues, it is one thing to have a meeting to study the problem of drugs in a slum neighborhood and quite another thing to go there, live there and understand the problem from the inside and study it.

It seems to me that we Salvationists can learn a great deal from the Pope’s very simple instructions and approach on how we might move forward. Some will argue that there’s nothing new here for the Army, we’ve moved among the marginalized for near 150 years. That’s true, but with which Biblical truth and doctrine in hand?

First of all it’s important to recognize that whenever we read the bible we shouldn’t assume that our interpretations are the correct ones; perhaps it’s a matter of reading them through new lenses. To best interpret a text we need to understand the literary, textual, historical, and cultural context to determine meaning. How many of us can say we’ve given enough thought and prayer to better understand the complexity of homosexuality?

Written and compiled by Sven Ljungholm