Oh, the Pope...

So, yesterday, I opened up my Google newsfeed and all I saw was Pope, Pope, Pope and more Pope. You already know where I stand when it comes to religion – I know absolutely nothing about it – but I was curious and decided to see what the fuss was all about.

“Take your children to the shrink if they show homosexual tendencies.”, he said. I was instantly upset upon reading this, but I kept my cool, because we all know about clickbait these days.

I read the article, but in the end, I couldn’t really understand the message he was trying to convey. So, I read another article, and another, but they all said the same. I was having a bit of an interpretation crisis.

Considering where the church stands (or used to stand, I’m not really sure) when it comes to homosexuality, it’s easy to assume that he meant that if you put your kids in therapy early on, you can cure their “gayness”. This is a very, very disgusting thought to me, but judging by the comments on the articles, that’s how many people saw it.

However, if we pay enough attention, we can see that he also said that “parents of gay children shouldn’t condemn them, ignore their orientation or throw them out of the house” and that they should “pray, talk and try to understand”. He also added that “ignoring a child with homosexual tendencies shows a lack of motherhood and fatherhood”.

To me, these statements go against that first idea I described. My interpretation of this, now, is that he suggests therapy for kids that show homosexual tendencies, not to “cure” them, but to help them understand their feelings and what they’re going through, to reassure them and to help them realize that what they’re feeling is okay, natural and valid.

As an optimist, I want to believe my second interpretation is closer to reality, but in today’s society, nothing surprises me anymore.

What do you think Pope Francis meant by his statements?