Some continue to purposely miss the point. There is a difference between acknowledging the intrinsic, God-given value and dignity of the
person.....and validating their
lifestyle/behavior that, by choice, disobeys the Commandments and rebels against God's authority over one's life.
The new pope said nothing new according to the Catechism section below that all would do well to read slowly and open-mindedly.
He just communicated the central message better than past ones did. He did not condone the behavior/lifestyle that breaches vows of chastity and celibacy. He reaffirmed that the
person has all the worth and dignity anyone else has in God's eyes. It's the
act of homosexual union that is condemned, not the person.
Nothing the new pope said approves homosexual priests having a sex partner, neither short nor long-term, nor hetero nor homosexual.
They're vowed to not have sex of ANY kind!
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The integrity of the person
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in speech.
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.
"Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when,......
2357
Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual
acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.
They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359
Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.......
Catechism of the Catholic Church - The sixth commandment[/QUOTE]