The media have made it sound like Pope Francis has a groundbreaking viewpoint on homosexuality of clergy in the Catholic Church for stating "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” The media call him more "progressive" than predecessors for this and think this is just one of many "changes" he wants to make to the Catholic Church.

To counter the media reaction, I posit that what he said is nothing shocking or new. I am going to break down what he said and why his quote is not groundbreaking. Remember that Pope Francis is a Jesuit priest, who are some of the most well-educated Christians in the study of Scripture, across all denominations of the Church. Thus, I am going to base this dissection of his words fully on Scripture.

I will start with a quick discussion on judgment of others, from the last part of that quotation.

At the time of Jesus, the political leaders of Judaism were the Pharisees. He pointed out their hypocrisy on numerous occasions in that they didn't practice what they preached. They would condemn people as sinners, yet do the same things themselves. To the idea of hypocritical judgment, Jesus said in Matthew 7 (NIV):

1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Next, we will move to where the Pope speaks of "searching for the Lord".

Jesus follows in the same chapter of Matthew with the common theme throughout his teachings of the humble search for faith:

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

What he is saying in this passage is that all humans are sinners and that no one will be turned away, if they are seeking God.

Finally, we will move to the core of the so-called controversial statement by the Pope: homosexual priesthood.

Now, specifically with Catholic priests, the Church has chosen that they all take a vow of celibacy, so sexuality isn't even part of life, as long as the individual has the strength to suppress the urges and live a holy path.

Here are Jesus' words on the matter from Matthew 19:12 (NIV), which comes right after the discussion of divorce and adultery:

"For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

Never once does the Bible (Old or New Testament) state that being a homosexual is wrong. It does, however, say that homosexual actions are sinful - as are many heterosexual actions, like adultery and fornication. Since a priest takes a vow of celibacy, none of those sins come into the picture. Only the internal struggles of lust and coveting are what matter.

Since priests are only human, they fall to these sins-of-the-mind, like any one else. Still it is commendable how the vast majority of them can go an entire lifetime without falling into the trap of physically sinning.

Now, lets take this discussion a step further and speak of a hypothetical scenario where the Catholic Church decides that clergy can begin to marry.

St. Peter is considered to be the first Pope by Catholic tradition, and he was married, as shown in another passage from Matthew, this time 8:14 (NIV):

When Jesus came into Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

One cannot have a mother-in-law without a wife! Historical documents actually show that Peter may have had a daughter later in life, as well.

If the Catholic Church opens marriage to clergy, then it would only be traditional heterosexual marriage, since that is the only form of marriage allowed in Scripture. Thus, priests who are non-acting homosexuals would remain celibate.