Jesus Teaches Us
Not to Set Limits
Submitted by Ann Castiglione
The following is excerpted from comments made by Pope Francis at World Youth Day:
“The power of the Gospel is for everyone. It is a principle that moves me a lot and that is my philosophy. Jesus says: ‘Go and bring everyone to me, healthy and sick, just and sinners.’ To all. And here they all come. If the Church does not do what Jesus taught it, it is not the Church. Everyone has to feel inside, to be welcomed inside. We cannot give up on that, because the Lord taught us.”
“For this reason, I am not worried that some will throw in my face that I receive [transgender people] in the general audience on Wednesdays. …The first time [the trans group] came and saw me, they left crying, saying that I shook their hand, gave a kiss… As if I had done something exceptional with them. But they are daughters of God! [God] still loves you just like that, just the way you are. Jesus teaches us not to set limits.”
Then this from Robert Shine of New Way Ministries about the reaction to the pope’s address: “The joint chant of Pope Francis and thousands of young people for “todos, todos, todos!” sends a powerful message, just as the pope’s meetings with transgender people have done.”
NB: Since that article, I have read in NCR Pope Francis has had that same group of transgender women to lunch at the Vatican!