Pope Francis & Marriage Equality

Update: It's been reported that Pope  Francis met with Kim Davis in Washington last week & told her to stay strong. The quote below was made following their secret meeting....
We all knew that Pope Francis during his U.S. visit would make some statement that would be derogatory regarding religious freedom as a means to discriminate against our LGBT community. Well he didn’t disappoint. When reporter Terry Moran from ABC News asked “Do you support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience … abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example when issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples?” Pope Francis stated, “Yes, I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right & if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right … Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying, ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.'” Russell Roybal, Deputy Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force stated, “As a Catholic, it’s very disappointing that Pope Francis doesn’t seem to understand that politicians & government officials using religion as an excuse to impose their prejudices on the public is profoundly wrong. That’s why we separate church & state in the United States. World history is replete with examples of Catholics being discriminated against—such as in Northern Ireland where in the 1960s and 1970s Catholic families were routinely refused public housing by Protestant government officials. Discrimination was wrong then & it’s wrong today when imposed by politicians on LGBTQ gay & lesbian couples who have a legal right to be issued with a marriage license. Our faith should liberate—not discriminate. Religious liberty is a cherished right but government officials should not be allowed to cherry pick the laws they want to follow and the ones they want to ignore.”
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