So I don't usually do this, but I've seen so much confusion and misinformation in the news media that I felt it was necessary. It's sad to see, after such an incredible, profound, and transformational week took place in Brazil, all the mishegas now surrounding his words to reporters on the plane ride home. I haven't seen too many full transcriptions of his words so I quickly put together a direct translation of the Spanish which the press have claimed proves that Pope Francis is "signalling opennes" to gay priests. I'm Argentinian and am fluent so I figured I could help. I tried to stay as close to his words as possible since sometimes people take liberties with translation; it's not terribly prosaic but it does the trick. It was helpful to me to read what he said in its entirety and not in soundbites. Hope you find this helpful, too.
(For more extensive analysis and commentary on the subject I direct you here, here, here, and here.)
Q: You haven't spoken yet on abortion or on gay marriage. In Brazil, they have approved a law which expands the right to abortion and legalizes gay marriage. Why haven't you spoken about this?
R: The Church has already expressed itself perfectly on this, it wasn't necessary to revisit this, nor to talk about scams, lying, or other things of which the Church already has a clear doctrine. It wasn't necessary to talk about that but, rather, positive things which help young people on their journey. Also, young people know perfectly well what the position of the Church is.
Q: But what is your position on these issues?
R: That of the Church, I am a son of the Church.
...
Q: What should be the involvement of women in the church? What do you think of the ordination of women?
R: Like I told the bishops, on the involvement of women in the Church we cannot limit women altar servers, the president of Caritas, the catechists... There must be something more, there needs to be thorough Theology of the Woman. Regarding the ordination of women, the Church has spoken and she says no. John Paul II said this, but with a definitive formulation [or "with decisive language"]. That door is closed. But I want to say something about this: the Virgin Mary was more important than the apostles and the bishops and the deacons and the priests. The woman in the Church is more important than bishops and priests. How? This is what we must try to explain better. I believe we are missing a theological explanation of this.
Q: The story of Msgr. Battista Ricca has thrown the world for a loop. We would like to know how you will address this issue and everything related to the alleged gay lobby in the Vatican?
R: With respect to Msgr. Ricca, I did what canon law demanded which is a preliminary investigation. And this investigation doesn't correspond with what has been published. We haven't found anything. But I would like to add one thing about this. I think that many times in the Church--in relation to this case or others--they are going to look for the sins of youth. And then they're published. Not crimes, crimes are another thing. Abuse of children is a crime. I'm referring to sins. But if a person--lay, priest, or nun--commits a sin and later repents, the Lord forgives. And when the Lord forgives, He forgets. And this is important for our life. When we confess, God forgives and forgets. And we have no right to not forget. You mentioned the gay lobby. Much is written about the gay lobby. I have not yet found a single person who gives me an ID card in the Vatican where it says that. They say there are those people. When one comes across a person like that, one must distinguish between the fact of being a gay person and the fact of lobbying, because no lobby is good. If a person is gay and seeks God and is of good will, who am I to judge them? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it very beautifully. It says that you should not marginalize those people because of that [being gay]. They should be integrated into society. The problem is not having this tendency. We must be brothers. The problem is making a lobby. Of this tendency or the lobby of the greedy, or of politicians, or of the Masons... So many lobbies... This is the bigger problem.
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