Pope Francis Tells Gay Man God 'Loves You Like This'

This shouldn't be a revolutionary thing to say in 2018, but here we are.

May 21, 2018

Pope Francis continues his penchant for messages of acceptance that aren't typically associated with church-y types, this time telling a gay man who was abused by a Chilean priest that God loves him just the way he is.

"He told me, 'Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don't care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are,'" Juan Carlos Cruz, who had a private meeting with Pope Francis two weeks ago, toldEl País.

As noted in the Guardian's report Monday, Fernando Karadima—the 87-year-old priest who sexually abused Cruz—was found guilty by the Vatican back in 2011. In response, some bishops have disgustingly attempted to characterize Cruz as a "pervert" who lied about the abuse in question. Since Pope Francis will never be able to go as far as saying this, I'll say it for him: Middle fingers up to those dumpster fire bishops.

Previously, Pope Francis reminded Christians at large that they owe gay people an apology for being such massive pieces of shit to them for years and years. "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended, but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor," he said back in 2016. "It has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons."

Of course, being accepting and supportive of the LGBTQ community is something anyone with a brain has been doing for a long time now. With church-y people, however, that support still isn't as widespread as one might think it would be in 2018. After all, a truly dumb motherfucker like Mike Pence is presently in the White House.