Pope affirms parents of LGBT kids: ‘God loves your children as they are’

Pope Francis continued his trend of making off-the-cuff gay-affirming statements to those pushing him on the issue, this time telling a group of parents who have homosexual kids that “God loves your children as they are.”

The comments were made during a 30-minute private audience Pope Francis had with members of Tenda di Gionata in the papal library of the Apostolic Palace.

‘Tenda di Gionata is translated’ to “Jonathan’s Tent” and is a pro-LGBT advocacy group comprised of Roman Catholic parents who have homosexual children. The group’s name, ‘Jonathan’s Tent’ is based on the twisting of scripture that says that David and Jonathan were lovers.

The parents came to plea and convince the pope to relent on the church’s official positon on homosexuality. One of the parents told Francis that she and others in the group had come to think of themselves as fortunate and blessed because having gay children forced them to change the way they viewed their kids. Mara Grassi, vice president of Jonathan’s Tent, said:

“What we have now is a new gaze that has allowed us to see in them the beauty and love of God…We want to create a bridge with the Church so that the Church too can change its gaze towards our children, no longer excluding them but welcoming them fully.”

Francis replied to this heartfelt plea from the parents:

“The church does not exclude them because she loves them deeply.”

and later:

“The church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.”

Along with the meeting from these parental activists trying to convince Francis to make the church affirming of sodomy, they also gave him a book with stories of people who had come to accept and embrace their gay identity, as well as a rainbow-colored T-shirt with the words ‘In love, there is no fear’ emblazoned on the front of it.

Pope Francis recently made other comments that indicated an acceptance of homosexuality, such as when he allegedly affirmed the sexuality of a gay priest.